15 



Skates and congers, and codling and haddock, also cat crabs and lobsters. 

 Both crabs and lobsters when in a soft condition seek concealment, as though 

 they were aware that at that time their armour was not in a fit condition for 

 fighting, and that they may be easily picked up by the enemy. A witness 

 at Penzance informed us that a little insect of the shrimp tribe appeared near 

 the Logan Rock 12 years ago. He thought this insect ate all the bait from the 

 pots and drove the crabs away ; he did not know the name of the insect. 

 Whenever these insects were found they drove away the fish ; they are now 

 decreasing again. I have unfortunately been unable to obtain specimens of 

 this insect, and have therefore no idea what they really are. 



The same witness considers that the natural destruction of shell fish by 

 skate and cod is ten times greater than by fishermen. Skate and cod are 

 sometimes full of small crabs. I am also of opinion that the young crabs, 

 when in the form of Zoea, afford food for fish and many other inhabitants of 

 the waters. 



In the spring and summer a great number of small crabs are picked out 

 of the rocks by women and children ; but I do not think much of the 

 mischief done by them. 



Among the enemies of the crab I must not forget the octopus. This creature 

 is a great crab eater, as proved at the Brighton Aquarium. Where he exists, 

 he, no doubt, plays great havoc among the smaller edible crabs. 



As there are two different sizes of crabs, so also there appear to be two 

 different sizes of lobsters. 



The deeper the water and the further from the shore, the larger are the lobsters. Large lobsters. 

 The Skye and the Orkney lobsters are probably the largest in the British 

 Islands. At St. Mawes we heard of two lobsters, one 10 lbs., and the other 

 9f lbs. ; and at Durgan and Sennen of one of 13 lbs. A large lobster was 

 caught in a large earthenware pot at Gosport in 1870, he weighed 8 lbs. 

 10 ounces. In May 1875 a lobster, weight 12 lbs., was found at Saints Bay, 

 Guernsey. I find a record of a lobster exhibited at Billingsgate, July 30, 1842, 

 which measured 2 feet 5} inches; the size of the body was 16 inches, the 

 claws measured upwards of 14 inches. In August 1873 a lobster weighing 

 11| lbs., caught in Guernsey, was exhibited by Messrs. Grove of Bond Street. 



On July 1874 a lobster, weight 1\ lbs., was caught on the Fife Banks 

 of the Forth. The lobsters from the Lizard ground are one third heavier than 

 those in Falmouth Bay, but crabs are smaller. 



The largest lobsters that have come under my individual notice are, first, 

 a lobster weighing 10^ lbs., sent me from Tenby, and now in my museum ; 

 secondly, a lobster presented to me by John Byatt, of Messrs. Winder's, 

 Haymarket, measuring 8 inches in the barrel, the total length being 19a inches, 

 and the weight 9J lbs. 



In the York Museum there is a magnificent specimen of a lobster, of which 

 the following are the dimensions : barrel 9^ inches ; top of beak to tail 

 19^ inches; left claw, the crusher, length 10^ inches; right claw, cutting, 

 length 10^ inches; left claw at widest part 5 inches. This was an American 

 specimen. 



Another very large lobster we came across in our inquiry was a grand 

 specimen which we examined in the house of Mr. Scovell, at Hamble, near 

 Southampton. The following are the dimensions : 



Length of barrel to tip of horn, 9i inches ; length of tail turned under the 

 body, 12 inches ; total length, two feet all but three quarters of an inch. Right 

 claw, 19| inches long; girth, 12^ inches; weight when killed, 14 lbs. This 

 lobster Mr. Scovell informs me was caught in a trammel net on the coast of 

 Cornwall. 



In the course of our inquiry we had evidence which pointed to the possible Small lobsters, 

 existence of a smaller kind of lobster. A witness informed us that on part of 

 the coast, near Hoy Island, the lobsters are always small. It is an undoubted 

 fact that the lobsters caught at Bognorare always small; the fishermen do not 

 wish the gauge under which these lobsters should not be sold to ]ic more than 

 a quarter of a pound in weight, that is about five inches long ; they arc called 

 "chicken lobsters ; " they run 14 to 20 to the pound. These small lobsters are 

 caught in the prawn pots. There are grass banks extending from Selsea 



