152 



ABOUT LOBSTERS 



Let's back them up. Quit kicking and start listen- 

 ing and believing. 



Suggested Lines of Thought for Inventors 



Thomas A. Edison said: " There is a way to do it better. 

 Find it." 



1. Artificial bait. Try phosphorus as a component of a 

 bait. It is an important chemical to a lobster, so he must 

 seek it. 3 



The fluids squeezed and dried out of fish scrap to make 

 fishmeal should have all the components attractive to a lob- 

 ster. A lobster senses his bait through water-borne attract- 

 ants, and these fluids should have them. Yet it is an ex- 

 pense to the fishmeal people to get rid of the fluids. 



So why not use them as a hire? 



It should be much easier to learn how to dispense fish 

 fluids than it is to discover the chemicals in brim ( the scraps 

 after filleting a fish) for which a lobster yearns. Remember 

 that the chemicals in fish scrap change from hour to hour 

 as the fish decays, and it might take a lifetime of chemical 

 research to find what a lobster craves. It would not be easy 

 to evolve a dispenser which releases such a lure, a drop at 

 a time, but any invention which can be held in the hand 

 and studied is very much easier to understand than the in- 

 tangibles of a chemical action. 



Such a bait probably would have to be heavily salted, 

 ( both to preserve it and to make it heavier than sea-water ) , 

 and then carefully filtered. 



Another suggestion: 



Learn how to introduce strong trimethylamine ( stronger 

 than a 10 per cent solution) into sea water, and do it 

 slowly, a bubble at a time. Its odor makes it difficult to 

 handle, but it has shown evidence of being a lobster at- 

 tractant. Perhaps Dr. Harry Lee can explain how he dis- 

 persed his gas. 4 



3 See page 28. 



4 See page 83. 



