126 



NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



attached to the " swimmarets " (the oarlike appendages 

 of the abdominal segments), and for a few hours are weak, 

 and lie helplessly on the sea-bottom, but soon gather 



Fig. 49 The Common Lobster. Homarus 

 i Natural size 



strength and swim away nimbly. (There are from thirty 

 to thirty-five thousand in one brood.) They swim freely 

 in open sea for about twenty-five days (during which their 

 numbers are very much reduced, for they are much esteemed 



