614 



THE LOBSTER. 



dependent on the accurate eye of the dealer. The Lobsters are caught in creels or pots 

 like the crabs, but with greater ease and economy, as they are very fond of meat, be it 

 fresh or tainted, and even if it should be putrefying will be attracted to it. Bright and 

 shining objects seem quite to fascinate the Lobster, which will enter a " pot " even though 

 the bait be nothing more than a number of empty oyster-shells placed so as to exhibit 

 the shining white of the interior. A few years ago a curious bait was employed with 

 great success. It was very simple, consisting of nothing more than a common phial 

 bottle, silvered on the inside. This was hung in the lobster-pots, and served to attract 

 the creatures to the bait. It has been suggested that the potency of this strange 

 allurement may be attributed to its resemblance to the phosphorescent shining of putrid 

 animal substances. But it is quite as probable that the glittering object may serve 

 simply to attract the Lobster's attention, and that when it has approached in order to 

 satisfy its curiosity, it perceives the bait, and immediately enters the trap. It is found 

 that both bait and bottle are required, as if the latter is used alone, the Lobsters dis- 

 cover their mistake and quit a spot where they find no food. 



LOBSTER. Homarus vulgaris. 



Like many other crustaceans, the Lobster is a most combative animal, quarrelling on 

 the slightest pretext, and righting most furiously. In these combats it mostly loses a 

 claw or a leg, being obliged to discard entirely a wounded member. A fresh leg or 

 claw sprouts from the scar, and it is to this circumstance that the frequently unequal 

 size of Lobster-claws is owing. Lobsters indeed part with these valuable members 

 with strange indifference, and will sometimes shake them off on hearing a sudden 

 noise. It is said that the commanders of certain preventive sloops were accustomed 

 to levy a tax upon the Lobster-fisherman, threatening that unless a certain number of 

 Lobsters were furnished to them they would fire cannon over the Lobster-grounds and 

 make the creatures shake off their claws. 



If the fisherman find that they have wounded a Lobster, they have recourse to a very 

 strange but perfectly efficacious remedy. Supposing one of the claws to be wounded, the 

 creature would soon bleed to death unless some means were taken whereby the flow of 

 blood may be stopped. The method adopted by the fishermen consists in twisting off the 



