158 GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



(a hundred fathoms), but since its enemies are probably 

 quite as persistent there as in the shallow water, every 

 means of defense is likely to be employed to the utmost. 



The lobster is capable of swimming with great rapidity 

 by suddenly doubling its flexible, muscular abdomen be- 

 neath and shooting backward through the water. This 

 form of locomotion does not appear to be depended on 

 except to enable it to escape from impending danger. Its 

 usual mode of progression is by walking on the tips of 

 the last four pairs of legs, the chelipeds being extended 

 anteriorly, apparently to expose as little of its bulk to the 

 water as possible. Experiments indicate that lobsters do 

 not travel great distances. Hence if all the lobsters in a 

 certain bay and vicinity are caught, the chances are against 

 that region recovering its lost supply. Laws have been 

 passed by the individual states to regulate the lobster fish- 

 eries. The chief attempts at avoiding extermination have 

 been the prohibition of the sale of lobsters under a certain 

 length and the protection of females carrying eggs. Hatch- 

 eries have also been established for rearing the young to the 

 stage where they leave the surface of the water and begin 

 to live on the floor of the ocean. All these attempts have 

 been only partially successful and have not really solved 

 the problem of materially increasing the numbers. 



Molting in the lobster, as in some other animals with a 

 hard exoskeleton, is an extremely important and critical 

 event. The number of molts an individual lobster may have 

 depends, in a great measure, upon the abundance of its 

 food. Males molt more frequently than females; hence 

 the largest lobsters are always males. Very young lobsters 

 molt more frequently than those of the size we find in the 

 market. During the process of molting it sometimes hap- 

 pens that an appendage is broken off. In the ordinary 

 course of its life, also, the lobster may lose a claw or an 



