THE AMERICAN LOfeSTEE. 2l 



During tins time, lobsters are caught in from 3 to 10 fathoms of water. For the rest 

 of the year the winter fishing is conducted in 35 to 40 fathoms. In general, the spring 

 migration along tin* entire coast of Maine and in the Maritime Provinces is accom- 

 plished in April and May, and the fall movement into deeper water in October and 

 November. 



When the spring is late and the water cold, the lobster keeps away from the shore. 

 Thus tli e spring of 1884 was a month later than usual in Prince Edward Island, says 

 the inspector of fisheries in his annual report (56'), " and the ice hung long about the 

 coast." The first lobster was caught on the 3d of June. " The hands about the 

 factories had been idle for fully four weeks, but the first batch or run of lobsters came 

 in quite as fast as they could be utilized. 1 have noticed this to have been the case in 

 previous years, as if when ice remained long the lobster congregated in large bodies 

 on the outer edge of the frozen belt ready to run for the shore as soon as it was clear 

 and the temperature suited. Subsequently the batches fell off to a little less than the 

 average." Ice is said to remain so long on this coast that few lobster fishermen begin 

 work until the first or second week in May. In 1892 the ice left early, and some lobsters 

 were landed on the north side of the island the 29th of April. Packing was begun 

 as early as the 10th of May. (Fishery Statements, 1891, p. 97.) 



At Cape Breton, in late seasons, very little lobster fishing is done before the 1st 

 of June, or even later. Lobsters probably do not, as a rule, move in schools, but 

 approach and leave the shores gradually with the change of temperature, yet a sudden 

 cold snap seems to cause them to disappear promptly from any locality. It is probable 

 that their disappearance under such circumstances may be explained by their burrow- 

 ing in the mud. (See pp. 20 and 29.) Mr. M. B. Spinney, of Cliffstone, Maine, informed 

 me that in May or June in 1869, at Prince Edward Island, while sailing in a small boat 

 from Georgetown into Grand River, lobsters were seen for the distance of several 

 miles crawling over the bottom in very large numbers and often very close together, 

 the water being 10 or 12 feet deep. 



Mr. Adolph Nielsen writes, in reply to certain questions, that as the coast of 

 Newfoundland is affected by the polar current, a spurt of northeast and easterly 

 winds often brings down the temperature of the water, and this causes the lobsters to 

 move off into deeper water or bury themselves in the sand or mud in the midst of 

 the season. At such times the fishermen can not take them in their traps. 



The sudden appearance of lobsters in the spring in relatively shallow water lends 

 color to the supposition that they sometimes move in large numbers together. Thus, 

 Mr. A. C. Smith says that in 1884 the proprietor of a lobster factory in New Brunswick 

 "set his traps on the 20th of April, keepiug them baited, but caught nothing till the 

 night of the 5th of May, when the lobsters suddenly ' struck in ' as plentiful as at any 

 time of the season." 



It is certain that lobsters do not indulge in any considerable northward or south- 

 ward migrations. This is proved, as Rathbun has pointed out (158), by the depletion 

 of the lobster fishery at certain points on the coast, as at Provincetown, Cape Cod, 

 Massachusetts. He states that the fishery was begun here in 1800, and that between 

 1845 and 1850 New York City received nearly its entire supply of these crustaceans 

 from the Provincetown region. A marked decrease in their abundance was noticed 

 in 1865, and this was followed by a gradual annual diminution, until in 18S0 there were 

 but eight men eugaged in the business. If there were any considerable coastwise 



