LOBSTERS. 87 



Pool that had been caught that day at Freshwater, Dorset. 

 On October 3rd, one of these lobsters was again caught at 

 Freshwater, having thus travelled back from Chapman's 

 Pool to its old haunts, a distance of from two to three miles, 

 and been re-captured, in two days. No knowledge exists of 

 the recapture of the remaining 10 marked lobsters. The 

 method of marking, I may add, is that of punching a hole 

 about Jin. dia. through the shelly portion of the extreme end 

 of the fish's tail with a clip-punch such as used by a railway 

 ticket examiner. 



Lobsters (like most Crustacea) are very pugnacious in 

 character, and it often happens when they fight they inflict 

 serious injury upon each other's limbs. In such cases they 

 detach the limb, not at the wounded spot, but at the joint 

 immediately above it. This is done owing to the fact that in 

 consequence of a lobster's blood-vessels being practically 

 non-contractile, the wound would continue to bleed freely, 

 notwithstanding the amputation, but by voluntarily detach- 

 ing the limb at the preceding joint, not only is the exposed 

 surface diminished in area considerably, but the substance 

 of the joints of the shell immediately contracts with sufficient 

 force to stop the bleeding. Lobsters will also, when alarmed, 

 (even when a cannon is fired) sometimes instantly cast off a 

 limb, but whenever they do so, they do not appear to suffer 

 any pain. 



Another limb, however, begins to grow again in place of 

 the discarded one, as a glance at the right third limb of my 

 specimen in the bottle shows. These new limbs, however, 

 never attain the size of their fellows. 



When referring just now to the manner in which a lobster 

 feeds, I said it held its food with the larger of its two claws, 

 and I may now add it uses the smaller one to hold on to the 

 weeds growing on the rocks whilst feeding ; it also uses the 

 larger claw for fighting as well as feeding, although what 

 happens in either case when it has only one claw I do not 

 know ! The power they are able to exercise with their claws 

 is indicated both from the fact that they are able to fracture 



