28 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



The lobster pound at the Vinal Haven Islands is a granite basin with a clay or 

 mud bottom, and with low mud banks in certain parts of the shore. At low tide it 

 has an average depth of 3 fathoms, while the difference between tides is 10 feet. On 

 the 26th of August, 1893, 1 explored this pound in a boat, in company with Mr. Thomas 

 Barton, an intelligent lobster fisherman, and had an excellent opportunity to observe 

 how lobsters behave under such conditions on a bright summer afternoon. It was 

 quite common to see these animals partially buried in the mud in shallow water, 

 their antennae, eyes, and part of the shell projecting from the muddy surface. We 

 could rely upon finding lobsters in the holes which they excavate beneath stones, and 

 rarely failed to discover one or more individuals in every good-sized chink among 

 the rocks. Others lay at the mouths of burrows which they had dug straight into the 

 banks. Comparatively few lobsters were seen lying upon the bottom or crawling 

 actively over it. Occasionally two or three lobsters could be dislodged from a common 

 place of retreat, and Mr. Barton said that in the spring, when the ice was breaking up, 

 he had taken five lobsters from a single hole in the mud. Some years ago the lobsters 

 made their way out of this pound, as I was told by an old fisherman formerly employed 

 there, by excavating a submarine passage beneath the dam. In order to effect their 

 escape, they had dug down beneath the stones to a depth of from 2 to 3 feet. 



At one of the pounds in Southport, Maine, I had a still better opportunity to 

 study the burrowing habits of the lobster. The larger pound at this island is under the 

 charge of Mr. A. P. Greeuleaf, a man of much experience in fishing the lobster and 

 a very intelligent observer of its habits. 1 He finds that the lobster burrows most 

 extensively in winter, when it is far less active in the pounds than at other times. 

 When the water is drawn off from the pound in winter the lobsters often remain in 

 their holes, the mouths of which are then exposed along the banks, but in summer 

 they are more careful tinder these conditions to forsake their burrows and crawl into 

 deeper water. 



In digging, lobsters probably make use of their large claws and walking legs, and., 

 possibly the tail-fan may be brought into service as a scoop or shovel, but I have 

 no observation in support of this latter supposition. In some cases, however, I have 

 noticed the under side of the tail-fan to be scratched and scarified and the marginal 

 fringe of hairs worn down in such a way as to suggest the xirobability of such a use. 2 



That lobsters transport stones with their large claws, Mr. Greeuleaf had the oppor- 

 tunity to observe, while watching a lobster one day in the pound. The animal was 

 maneuvering about a hole, in 3 feet of water. It was seen to crawl up to the burrow, 

 possibly one which had been dug by another lobster, and cautiously put in first one 

 claw and then the other. Finally it went in so as to conceal about half the length of 



1 Mr. Greenleaf is the only fisherman -whom I have met who has independently determined the 

 period during which the female lobster regularly carries her eggs. 



-The process by which the hole is said to be excavated solely by means of the tail has been 

 described by a writer on the habits of the lobster {181). This paper abounds in errors, and leads one 

 to suspect that the author has drawn too largely upon the accounts of others; still, this fact need not 

 discredit this particular observation. He says: "The tail is slowly drawn up at first, taking as much 

 of the mud as possible on its under side; then, when well under the body, a final powerful jerk sends 

 the mud or sand from out in front, and at the same time draws the lobster farther back into the cavity 

 thus made, enabling him to get a better grasp for repeating the process over and over again, till by 

 degrees lie disappears from sight." The statement that " these holes arc for the shelter of the lobster 

 during the period of exuviation," however plausible it may be, is contrary to observed facts. 



