360 INVERTEBRATA OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



The EDIBLE MUSSEL, (My'tilus edulis^) as its name imports, is abun- 

 dantly used for food in other countries. It is plentiful with us, but 

 other shell-fish, quite as easily obtained, are preferred. 



The LOBSTER (Homdrus Americdnus) is the largest of all crusta- 

 ceous animals, and is extensively employed for food. The largest which 

 has been seen by the Boston fishermen, weighed twenty-eight pounds ; 

 and those weighing ten or twelve pounds are not uncommonly seen in 

 the market. The average, however, is about four pounds. 



Lobsters are caught during the six months of warm weather. They 

 might be taken during the whole year, but no adequate sale is found 

 for them in cold weather. They are caught about all the islands in 

 Massachusetts Bay, and in every cove along the coast. A few con- 

 tractors manage most of the trade. The largest dealers, Ebenezer 

 Weeks & Co., have three vessels employed during the season. They 

 furnish the apparatus for catching them, and pay a certain sum for each 

 lobster caught. One man will attend forty lobster-pots. He raises the 

 pots in the morning and secures his prey, and spends the remainder of 

 the day in catching cod-fish, with which to bait on the following morn- 

 ing. To average one lobster per day to each pot, is considered fair 

 luck. In this way, probably 200,000 are annually taken in the waters 

 of Massachusetts. Nearly one half of this number comes to Boston 

 market, while all the inhabitants of the seaboard supply themselves 

 abundantly ; and the New York market is also principally supplied 

 from the waters of this State, about Provincetown. 



Lobsters sell at an average price of about ten cents each, affording 

 a profit of about ten per cent. 



CRABS are held in little repute as food, though a few hundreds are 

 annually sold at two or three cents each. 



2. Such as afford subsistence to other animals. Under this head 

 we might at once introduce the whole catalogue. The fishes and 

 aquatic birds devour them all, without distinction or mercy. Ducks, 

 geese, and reptiles pick up the little cockles which live in the brooks 

 and pools. The shell-fish of the sea prey upon each other, and all 

 become food for fishes. It is surprising to find how the largest shells 

 may be, and are, swallowed by the cod-fish. Those, however, are 

 preferred by them which have their shells gaping ; such as the Clams, 

 Panopdta, Glycymeris, &c. The death of the animal swallowed soon 

 occurs, the muscles of the shells relax, the gastric juice of the fish 

 soon dissolves the animal, and then the shell is rejected. The use of 



