ABOUT LOBSTERS 39 



development of the lobster pot. They are still used in British 

 lobster pounds to fish out the impounded lobsters. 



In dense lobster population the hoop net is said to be 

 more efficient than the pot. 



The American pot. Although all American pots func- 

 tion the same way, yet it is another piece of lobstermen's 

 gear about which many disagree. Some of the variations in 

 design are: 



1. The half-round pot, the earliest style, using 

 black alder bent bows. Modern pots of this style use 

 steam-bent oak bows. It withstands rough handling 

 better than the square pot. 



2. The square pot, which is easier to make, and 

 stacks better in the cockpit of a boat. 



3. Parlor pots, which doubly trap a lobster. One 

 less knitted head is necessary in non-parlor pots. Most 

 American pots today are parlor ones. 



4. Two side entrance openings versus one open- 

 ing. Here again is a saving of one knitted head. The 

 one-opening pot would seem to be less efficient, for the 

 single opening can be blocked by kelp. Yet some able 

 lobstermen claim they catch just as many lobsters with a 

 single entrance pot. 



5. In a few harbors, pots can be found which 

 have two entrances at either end rather than the sides. 

 They do not have parlors. Such pots have to be un- 

 usually long. Otherwise, a lobster can reach through 

 the head ring ( without actually passing through it ) and 

 get at the bait. 



Parlor Pots are undoubtedly the most effective type. 

 They do retain more of the trapped lobsters, but they by 

 no means hold 100 per cent of the lobsters caught. To prove 

 this, any lobsterman can put five lobsters in the parlor, 

 leave the pot down overnight, with no bait, and there will 

 be less than five lobsters in the pot the following morning. 

 Some of them will have escaped. 



Lobsters seem to be repelled by the acid in new * * 

 oak pots. Freshly made pots do not fish well the first 



