THE COMMON LOBSTER. 851 



How and where caught Extremely prolific. 



dens by degrees. Lobsters only grow in size 

 while their shells are in their soft state. 



These animals are found on most of the rocky 

 coasts of Great Britain. Some are caught with 

 the hand, but the greater quantity in pots; a 

 sort of trap formed of twigs, and baited with 

 garbage. These are formed like a wire mouse- 

 trap, so that when the lobster gets in, there is no 

 return. They are fastened to a cord sunk into 

 the sea, and their place is marked by a buoy. 

 They are caught in such plenty on the coast 

 "of Northumberland, that, about the year l?6y, 

 the sum paid for the annual exports from New- 

 biggin and Newton by the sea, (exclusive of 

 those from Holy Island, which produce annually 

 a very considerable sum,) amounted to near 

 1500/. This circumstance was stated by John 

 Creswell, Esq. of Creswell, who for many years 

 had made the payments for them from one fish- 

 monger in London, on whose account all the 

 most valuable fish from the coast of Northum- 

 berland were shipped. 



Lobsters are extremely prolific ; Dr. Baster 

 counted i 2,444 eggs under the tail of a female 

 lobster, besides those that remained in the body 

 unprotruded. They deposit these eggs in the 

 sand, where they are soon hatched. The female, 

 or hen lobster, does not cast her shell the same 

 year that she deposits her ova, or, in the 

 common phrase, is in berry. When the ova 

 first appear under her tail, they are small,, and 



