THE AMERICAN LOBSTER 19 



enemy makes his appearance or ii' the animal is surprised, as wbeu it is suddenly 

 touched with the blade of an oar or cornered, it will immediately strike an altitude 

 of defense. It now raises itself on the tins of its walking legs, and lifts its powerful 

 claws over the head after the manner of a. boxer, and strikes with one of its claws at 

 the offending object, trying' to crush it or tear it in pieces. [ have several times pulled 

 lobsters partially or completely out of their burrows with an oar. You have only to 

 thrust the oar-blade into their holes, when, if a lobster is present, it will immediately 

 seize it with a firm grip; but it often shows its intelligence by relaxing its hold before 

 becoming completely exposed. By far the most powerful organ of locomotion in the 

 lobster is its "tail." By the flexion of this, aided by the extended tail-fan, the animal 

 is able to shoot backward through the water with astonishing rapidity, sometimes 

 going, according to one observer, 25 feet in less than a second. If tossed into the water 

 back or head first, the animal, unless exhausted, immediately rights itself and, with 

 one or two vigorous flexions of the tail, shoots off obliquely toward the bottom, as if 

 sliding down an inclined plane. 



The lobster, though less active and keen-witted than the higher crabs, can not be 

 regarded as a sluggish animal in any sense. In the water its movements are graceful ; 

 it is wary, resourceful, pugnacious, capable of defending itself against enemies which 

 are often larger than itself, and, if the occasion requires it, of running about with the 

 greatest agility and speed. 



On calm evenings in summer at about sundown I have seen lobsters very close to 

 shore lying on little patches of sand, surroundtd by eelgrass, probably waiting their 

 opportunity to seize a passing fish or crab. If approached in a boat on such an occa- 

 sion, they soon become aware of your presence and put themselves in an attitude 

 of defense, but press them too close, or attempt to piu them down with an oar, they 

 immediately dart backward into deeper water among the seaweed. If still pursued, 

 the lobster rises and flies in another direction, thus zigzagging its way over the bottom 

 until it finds safety in some denser tangle or rocky crevice. 



Of the English lobster, Travis remarks: 



In the water they can rim nimbly upon their legs or small claws ami, if alarmed, can siting tail 

 forward to a surprising distance as swift as a bird can fly. The fishermen see them pass about 30 feet, 

 and by the swiftness of their motion suppose that they go much farther. Atheneeus remarks this 

 circumstance, and says that incurvated lobsters will spring with the activity of dolphins. When 

 frightened they will spring from a considerable distance to their bole in the rock, and, what is not less 

 surprising thau true, will throw themselves into their bole in that manner, through an entrance barely 

 sufficieut for their bodies to pass; as is frequently seen by the people who eudeavor to take them at 

 Filey-bridge (191). 



When a lobster is surprised it seems to disappear with a single leap or bound as a 

 locust or grasshopper might do. This habit, added to their appearance, explains why 

 lobsters were called by Pliny and the ancient writers locustce, or "locusts of the sea." 

 The lobster, however, never rises more than a few inches or at most a few feet above 

 the bottom, and it is evident that swimming at the surface would be impossible on 

 account of the great weight of the body. The "traveling lobsters," or fterd-hummer, 

 which jSTorwegian fishermen, as Sars tells us {176), have described as swimming at 

 the surface of the ocean in large schools, often many miles from the coast, were, 

 without donbt, some large species of surface-feeding shrimp. 



Lobsters kept in an aquarium often thrive well, and will live for a long period if 

 they are properly cared for. In the hatchery of the United States Fish Commission 



