PEGULIABITIES OF THE LOBSTER. 257 



of men and boats employed, the packing and pickling estab- 

 lishments with the force employed, the quantity of oysters 

 consumed here and exported, we will merely say in conclu- 

 sion that the value of the trade in 1877 amounted to over 

 twenty-five million dollars in this country alone. 



The Lobsters .(which belong to the Crustacea or hard- 

 shelled animals), the common species of whicli is so plentiful 

 on the rocky coasts of our own country, and most parts of 

 Europe, are generally taken in traps, sometimes made of 

 osier twigs, also by nets, sometimes pots, always baited with 

 animal garbage, and in some countries by torchlight, with 

 the aid of a wooden instrument which acts like a forceps or 

 a pair of tongs. They are also taken by the hand, but this 

 requires dexterity, for the claws are powerful weapons of 

 defence : one is always larger than the other, and the pincers 

 of one claw are knobbed on the inner edge, those of the 

 other are serrated. It is more dangerous to be seized by the 

 serrated than by the knobbed claw. A great authority on 

 fish matters says : 



*' I once heard a clergyman at a lecture describe a lob- 

 ster as a standing romance of the sea; an animal whose 

 clothing is a shell, which it casts away once a year, in order 

 that it may put on a larger suit; an animal whose flesh is in 

 its tail and legs, and whose hair is on the inside of its breast ; 

 whose stomach is in its head, and which is changed every 

 year for a new one, and which new one begins its life by 

 devouring the old. An animal which carries its eggs within 

 its body until they become fruitful, and then carries them 

 outwardly under its tail; an animal which can throw off its 

 legs when they become troublesome, and can in a brief time 

 replace them. Lastly, an animal with very sharp eyes 

 placed in movable horns." 



The London market alone requires two millions and a 

 half of crabs and lobsters annually. Large numbers are sent 

 from the Scottish coasts. The west and north-west coasts of 



