CRAYFISH, LOBSTERS, CRABS, SHRIMPS, ETC. 117 



taken that are less than nine inches long; others place the 

 minimum at ten or ten and one-half inches. 



The food of lobsters consists of fish and any other animals 

 that they can capture in the sea. Although they prefer fresh 

 food they do not hesitate to eat dead or even decomposing 

 animal matter. 



Females eight or ten inches long may produce 5000 to 10,000 

 eggs. Very large lobsters may produce nearly ten times this 

 number. The eggs are glued to the swimmerets and thus 

 protected as are the eggs of the crayfish. 



Live lobsters are brownish or greenish with bluish mottlings. 

 The ones usually seen in the market are red because they have 

 been boiled. 



At one time lobsters were very plentiful and very cheap 

 along the New England and Canadian coasts. It was no 

 uncommon thing for as many as 100,000,000 to be marketed 

 in a year, and the price was often as low as five cents for a 

 large lobster. But for the last thirty years the numbers have 

 been decreasing very rapidly until now the catch is only a 

 small fraction of what it used to be, possibly little more than 

 one-tenth, and many of the best grounds are no longer fished 

 because they do not yield profitable returns. As the supply 

 decreased the prices rapidly increased until now in many 

 places lobsters sell from fifty cents to one dollar each. The 

 problem of how to conserve the supply that still exists is a 

 very important one and has been the subject of much study and 

 experimenting. Closed seasons and a gauge or length limit 

 have been tried. "Egg-lobster" laws have been passed for 

 the protection of the female during the time she is carrying 

 her eggs. But there has been only a partial check in the 

 destruction of the industry. With certain modifications of 

 these laws and with the methods of artificial propagation that 

 are now being practiced in some states, it is hoped that more 

 encouraging results may be met with. The lobster fisheries 

 on the seacoasts of Europe have had the same difficulties 

 that have been met with here. 



The common American lobster is called Homarus americanus , 

 and the common lobster of Europe H. grammarus, the Nor- 



