262 THE WEALTH OF THE SEA 



erated claw is not always similar to the lost one; 

 occasionally an individual is found with two crusher 

 claws or two toothed claws. 



The normal color of the living adult lobster is a 

 deep green, although in some individuals it varies to 

 dark blue and nearly black. Occasionally red and 

 cream-colored lobsters are taken, but such colors are 

 abnormal. When lobsters are cooked their color 

 changes to bright red, because of a chemical change 

 in the pigment of the shell. 



Lobsters are caught in baited traps called pots or 

 creels which operate on the principle of the old- 

 fashioned rat-trap, and are adapted for taking an 

 aquatic animal of dull wit but keen scent. These 

 traps vary somewhat in size and shape in different 

 parts of the country, but, in general, they consist 

 of oblong lath boxes having in one or both ends a 

 funnel-shaped opening, usually inclined obliquely 

 upward, through which the lobsters pass in quest of 

 the bait. 



The common Maine lobster-pot has a flat bottom 

 and is semi-cylindrical in shape, being about four 

 feet long, two feet wide, and eighteen inches high. 

 It is constructed of common house laths nailed to a 

 hardwood frame. In each end is a coarse-meshed, 

 funnel-shaped net, the larger end of which is of the 

 same diameter as the pot, whereas the smaller end is 

 only six inches in diameter. These funnels are about 

 a foot deep and thus extend about half-way to the 

 center of the trap. 



Each trap is weighted down to the bottom with 



