LOBSTER 



3473 



LOCHINVAR 



After about a month they remain near the bot- 

 tom, where they can retire to safety when dan- 

 ger threatens. The species common to Atlantic 

 waters is found from New Jersey northward, 

 the best being taken along the shores of New 

 England north of Cape Cod. They usually 

 measure from twelve to twenty-four inches in 

 length and weigh from two to fifteen pounds, 

 though some much larger specimens are occa- 

 sionally caught. 



Lobster Fishing. Lobsters are caught in 

 large numbers in wooden traps, called pots, 

 which are made of wood, fitted at each end 

 with a funnel-shaped opening covered with net- 

 ting, with a hole in the center. The lobster 



New BrunswicX 

 8 



Massachusetts 

 2. 



Figures Represent Millions of Pounds 



THE LOBSTER CATCH EVERY YEAR 

 The above figures represent the number of 

 pounds per year averaged for a period of five 

 years. Elsewhere than along the shores of the 

 provinces and states named the catch is not im- 

 portant. North Americans eat over 50,000,000 

 pounds of lobsters every year and send large 

 quantities to Europe. 



pots are baited with dead fish, or almost any 

 garbage, and are sunk to the bottom in deep 

 water among the rocks where the animals live, 

 and the spot is marked by wooden floats. The 

 lobster can enter the trap easily, but cannot 

 find his way out again. Every day or two the 

 pots are raised to the surface of the water and 

 their contents emptied into large floating cars, 

 where the catch is confined until wanted for 

 market. A peg is driven into the "thumb" of 

 each lobster to prevent the claws from open- 

 ing; this treatment prevents them from fight- 

 ing and destroying one another. They are very 

 quarrelsome, and by nature attack each other 

 so viciously that they often lose their claws. 

 Twenty to thirty million lobsters are caught 

 every year along the New England and Cana- 

 dian coasts, and the fishery is a source of great 

 218 



profit. Lobsters are counted among the "scav- 

 engers of the sea," as they feed on decaying 

 animal matter. They also eat fish, clams, mus- 

 sels and other mollusca. 



Consult Herrick's Natural History of the 

 American Lobster; Mead's Method of Lobster 

 Culture. 



LOB 'WORM, the name of a family of 

 worms that burrow in the sands of the seashore 

 along the coasts of Europe and North America. 

 The lobworm is from eight to ten inches long, 

 and is much used for bait in deep-sea fishing. 

 Its habits are similar to those of the ordinary 

 earthworm, but it belongs to a different order. 

 It has no eyes; the head is large and is armed 

 with a long nose, or proboscis. The worm 

 breathes through thirteen pairs of minute, gaily- 

 colored tufts, and there are bristles on the 

 rings of the body. At low tide it may be 

 easily traced on the beaches by the coils of 

 sand it leaves when crawling along. It is also 

 called lugbait and lug worm. 



LOCAL OPTION means local choice. The 

 term refers particularly to the right of any 

 political division, such as a township, city or 

 county, to determine for itself the conditions 

 under which intoxicating liquors shall be sold, 

 or whether the traffic in them shall be prohib- 

 ited. To put this temperance weapon into the 

 hands of the people an act of the legislature is 

 required, granting authority to communities to 

 determine the saloon question, according to 

 local sentiment, and naming the smallest politi- 

 cal district in which local option may be put 

 into effect. Then the people within such dis- 

 trict may by majority vote confirm the right 

 of local liquor dealers to continue their busi- 

 ness or force them to abandon it. As one of 

 the means of regulation of saloons local option 

 was very important before the adoption of pro- 

 hibition. See PROHIBITION ; TEMPERANCE ; ALCO- 

 HOLIC DRINKS. 



LOCHINVAR, lock'invahr, a story-poem by 

 Sir Walter Scott which has rejoiced the heart 

 of countless children. It forms a part of Mar- 

 mion. Scott was very fond of the old ballads, 

 and this poem, with its simple style, its swing- 

 ing meter and the refrainlike last lines of its 

 stanzas, is patterned after them. It has, how- 

 ever, none of the quaint, old-fashioned touches 

 which mark the old ballads, and which some 

 poets have introduced even into their imitations. 

 The story is simple. The gallant knight Loch- 

 invar has been spurned by the father of the 

 lovely Ellen, but appears at the wedding feast 

 and under pretense of dancing with the bride 



