VI 



Manner of 

 conducting 

 fishery for 

 crabs and 

 lobsters. 



less appreciated. A very influential witness at Penzance went 

 the extreme length of saying that they were "no good," and 

 ought not to be caught at all. In Scotland, therefore, crabs are 

 chiefly eaten in the summer and early autumn, when the females 

 are in best condition. In England, on the contrary, crabs are 

 considered at their best in the early spring, when the male is 

 most full of meat. 



The natural history of the lobster generally resembles the 

 natural history of the crab. The lobster, like the crab, in the 

 earliest stages of its growth, bears a form wholty different from 

 that of its adult state. The lobster, like the crab, has the power 

 of casting its hard shell and of forming a new shell. The lobster, 

 like the crab, carries its ova during the earlier period of pregnancy 

 inside its shell; like the crab, it has the power at a later 

 period of extruding them and of fastening them to the delicate 

 appendages which are placed for the purpose under its tail. 



The fishery for crabs and lobsters is conducted in every part of 

 the Kingdom in the same manner. Traps made of wicker-work, or 

 of a wicker frame covered with netting, and usually known as 

 " pots " or " creels," are almost universally used. The pot is baited 

 with some fish, fresh fish being preferred for crabs, and stinking 

 fish for lobsters, and sunk in from 3 fathom to 45 fathom water. 

 The crabs and lobsters enter the pot in search of the food 

 through a hole or pipe 4J to 5 inches in diameter, and are found 

 in it when the pots are examined. The pot or creel, therefore, 

 acts on the principle of an ordinary mousetrap. The number of 

 creels which a boat will carry varies in different localities, In 

 some places as many as 100 creels, in others as few as 20, are 

 carried by a single boat. But in every case the creels are left 

 unattended by the fishermen, and only periodically examined 

 (usually towards dawn) by the owners. A creel, therefore, is a 

 fixed engine, perpetually fishing during the whole crab and lobster 

 fishing season, and only requiring the occasional attendance of 

 the fishermen. 



Creels, however, simple engines though they be, have only 

 recently been introduced into some places. The fishermen used 

 to fish with a much more primitive and less efficacious engine. 

 An iron ring had a small net attached to it in the shape of a 

 purse. The net was baited and let down. The fisherman con- 

 stantly examined the ring to see if there were any fish on it, 

 and the pressure of the water on the ring while it was being- 

 drawn up for examination prevented any lobsters or crabs, which 

 happened to have been attracted by the bait, from escaping. 

 The ring therefore required the constant attention of the fisher- 

 man, and a boat could not use more rings than the fishermen 

 connected with it could constantly examine. The substitution of 

 creels for rings, therefore, enabled each fisherman to work more 

 traps than he could before, and to work them with very much 

 less labour to himself. It replaced a comparatively inefficient 

 engine with a very much more efficient one. 



Having disposed of these preliminary remarks, we proceed 



