ABOUT LOBSTERS 



85 



colors of cellophane had widely varying properties of filter- 

 ing out either ultra-violet or infra-red rays. These lures were 

 tried in different positions in the pot, and were mounted to 

 be either stationary or moving. Some even had plastic fins 

 attached so that ocean currents would make them rock back 

 and forth to produce a flickering light. None of these tests 

 produced a lure anywhere near as good as redfish. 



Next, mirrors were tried. This scheme had been tried 

 by LobLure, too, using a weighted, wedge-shaped wooden 

 block on two faces of which small hand mirrors were 

 mounted. The wedge shape was used to deflect the light rays 

 coming down from above the water so they would shoot off 

 parallel to the ocean floor (the angle of incidence being 

 equal to the angle of deflection ) . This device had been suc- 

 cessful once (three counters in one pot) but it had not 

 worked at all since then. Nor did it with these new tests, 

 and it could only be concluded that its one-time success was 

 a fluke. Every lobsterman knows that under some conditions 

 of hunger or curiosity a lobster will enter an unbaited pot. 



Another experiment with mirrors was to put one-half a 

 teaspoonful of mercury in a small square glass bottle, using 

 just enough mercury so that the bottle would almost float 

 and, therefore, be moved by a very slight ocean current. 

 This bottle, hung in a pot, would rock back and forth slowly 

 flickering its reflected light. The idea was that a flickering 

 light is more attention getting than a stationary light ( notice 

 any flickering advertising sign ) . 



Another trial using the mirror idea was to coat the in- 

 side of a glass bottle with herring-scale lacquer, the hope 

 being that herring scale, a natural reflector of the ocean, 

 might flash a light more acceptable to a lobster. It proved 

 nothing. 



A resident of Damariscotta came up with a scheme 

 which sounded encouraging. He used the principle of the 

 Geissler tube, which some of us remember from high school 

 physics. He had made a sealed glass globe, about three 

 inches in diameter, containing neon gas and about a tea- 

 spoon of mercury. When the globe was shaken, the move- 



