156 THE SEA. 



Lobsters are prolific creatures, and it is well that they are so, considering the enormous 

 quantities consumed every day^n England alone. 



"It has been computed that each fully-matured female will produce from 18,000 to 

 20,000 eggs, and there is little doubt but that with proper management and the expenditure of 

 a very small capital artificial fecundation of the ova might be most successfully and profitably 

 conducted in this country. Much attention has of late been paid to this subject in France, and 

 many most interesting experiments in connection with it have been tried. The number of 

 lobsters brought every season to Billingsgate Market will serve to give some idea of the 

 importance of lobster fishing, and the sums of money which must change hands in connection 

 with it. Calculations show that from the coasts of England, Ireland, Scotland, and the 

 Channel Islands 150,000 lobsters per season reach Billingsgate, exclusive of the supply of 

 Norway lobsters, which are even more abundantly supplied, over 600,000 per season being 

 imported. It not unfrequently happens that one day's supply for that great emporium of sea 



dainties reaches as high as 25,000, and here 

 at early morning, long before mighty London 

 is fairly up for the day, a scene of bustle 

 and activity may be witnessed which well 

 repays the early riser. Steam in clouds 

 floats above the vast loads of newly-boiled 

 crustaceans and molluscs ; and carts of every 

 size and pattern block the way/' 



The regular lobster season lasts from 

 the month of March to August. About the 



THE HERMIT CRAB (Pag, Semhardus}. middle or ktter end of the last-mentioned 



month the shifting of shells takes place, and 



the fish is unfit for human food ; but, like the silkworms after a change of skin, they commence 

 feeding in the most voracious manner directly the new garment is durable enough to admit 

 of their taking their walks abroad, and their temporary seclusion and compulsory abstinence are 

 amply made up by a course of heavy feeding. The lost plumpness and condition soon return. 

 Unlike some crustaceans who are coldly indifferent to the welfare of their offspring, the 

 mamma lobster keeps her little brood about her until the youthful lobsterkins are big 

 enough to start in life for themselves. 



The coasts of British North America, as well as many portions of the seaboard of the 

 United States, abound in mail-clad inhabitants of many kinds. In some localities great 

 amusement is at times afforded by their capture a sort of picnic, or lobster frolic, being 

 organised. A boat, with plenty of eatables and drinkables, and a capacious pot, are provided, 

 and long poles with their ends split prepared. On the boat being propelled slowly through the 

 shallow water, a sharp look-out is kept on the regions below, and on the lobster being 

 discovered, the split end of the pole is lowered quietly, and with the greatest caution, until 

 just over the unsuspecting victim's back, when by a sudden downward thrust the forceps-like 

 instrument securely nips him, and he is brought to the surface in spite of his claws and the 

 pinches he inflicts on the tough, unyielding wood. Some overhanging rock or pleasant nook on 

 the shore is usually selected as a place in which to dine and cook the proceeds of the lobster hunt. 



