THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 121 



The cod lias an equally bad reputation among English fishermen. Frank Buck- 

 land says (38, pp. 14, 15) : 



Among tho animate enemies the principal enemy [of the lobsters] I believe are cod. A witness at 

 Burghead stated that codfish are great enemies to lobsters; he hardly ever opens a cod without finding 

 young lobsters in the stomach, particularly in February and March. He has seen cod throwing up 

 lobsters on the deck of a vessel, as many as live or six lobsters in one cod. These lobsters would he 

 3 or 4 inches in length or even smaller. Cod eat lobsters all the season. In the spring aud in January, 

 February, and March there axe many cod about. Skates and congers, and codling and haddock also 

 eat crabs and lobsters. 



On July 16, 1894, Dr. J. I. Peck showed me the "tail v of a soft lobster which he 

 had taken from the stomach of the weakfisk or squeteague (Cynoscion regale). The 

 lobster had been out of its shell but a few hours when it was snapped up by this fish. 



Verrill (196) records the finding of lobsters iu the following fish: Dusky shark 

 (JEJulamia obscura), Woods Hole, in July and August; dogfish (Mustelus canis), Woods 

 Hole, in August; saud shark (JEJugomphodus Uttoralis), Woods Hole, July and August; 

 peaked-nose skate (Rata Icevis), Menemsha, July; long-tailed stingray (Myliobatis fre- 

 minvillei), Vineyard Sound, July; rabbit-fish (Ghilomycterus geometricus), Woods Hole, 

 July; striped bass (Boccus lineatus), Woods Hole, August, 1871 ; tautog ( Tautoga onitis), 

 "two caught July 8 and 15 contained small lobsters." 



Mr. Mosher, who had prepared striped bass for market for upward of thirty 

 years, said: 



Striped bass do not feed upon live menhaden, but upon crabs and lobsters. * * * I have 

 always observed that bass fishing was best where lobsters and crabs were most plentiful. (Bull. 

 U.S. P.O., vol. 11, p. 410.) 



Small lobsters are probably to some extent the prey of sea-roving birds, such as 

 the gulls and terns, but in regard to this nothing is known. According to Boeck 

 (30, pp. 227-22S), the Norwegian lobster is sometimes attacked by crows. His account 

 is as follows : 



An interesting scene may be witnessed near Bukkeno, north of Stavanger, where an Englishman 

 has constructed a large pond between some small islands for keeping live lobsters. Whenever the 

 pond becomes too full of lobsters, so that they do not find sufficient food, they leave the water and 

 crawl about, seeking to reach the sea, but during their wanderings they fall an easy prey to large 

 numbers of crows hovering round, which take them in their claws, fly high up. and let the unfor- 

 tunate lobster drop down on the rocks, where their shells are broken, so that the crows can eat them 

 in comfort. The crows are not easily scared away, but show a remarkable degree of sense, only 

 flying away when anyone approaches with firearms, and later they carry on their depredations in the 

 early morning, when they have less to fear. 



That lobsters ever leave the water and attempt to crawl upon the land can not be 

 credited, and it is likely that this story passed through several hands before reaching 

 its present form. Herbst (88) says that the lobsters have a great enemy in the Stein- 

 beisser. ' 



If the lobster is thus attacked and destroyed in large numbers by fish after it 

 has acquired the habits of the adult and has many devices to avoid its enemies, what 

 shall we say of the destruction which is wrought on the young during the first eight 

 or ten weeks of their life? From the time of hatching up to the sixth stage the 

 young lobster swims at the surface and becomes an easy prey to all surface-feeding 



1 It is uncertain what fish is here meant. The name is applied to the fresh-water genera CoMtis 

 and Lota. 



