THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 165 



When the lobsters have attained a length of 3i or 4 inches they become more 

 bold, leave their burrows among the rock piles, and seek the shelter of stones, beneath 

 which they excavate a shallow hole. Here they lie concealed from their enemies and 

 are ready at all times to strike a blow at the smaller and weaker animals which pass 

 within the reach of their claws. 



The young - lobsters enumerated in table 33 were captured in or near Vineyard Sound 

 or raised in the hatchery of the station of the Fish Commission. Fifteen of these 

 (Nos. 2-16) were collected by Mr. Vinal N. Edwards on Nobska Beach, in Woods Hole, 

 January 28, 1S82, after a hard storm, when there had been much anchor frost. Mr. 

 Edwards recorded in his journal the finding also of crabs with eggs, thrown upon 

 the beach, together with isopods, holothurians, sea-anemones, and a large number of 

 fish, such as dinners, tautog, hake, sculpins, smelt, flatfish, herring, toincod, and 

 eels. Mr. Edwards writes that many young lobsters came ashore at the same time on 

 the point of land where the Fish Commission station is now built. Several years ago, 

 when small lobsters were used for bait, he used to find them in comparative abun- 

 dance, from li to 3 or 4 inches in length, under stones in shallow water, near Pine 

 Island, on the north side of "The Hole." Some of the stones would be out of the 

 water at low tide. No small lobsters are found in this place or vicinity at the present 

 time. Whether this disappearance is due to the general decrease in the number of 

 lobsters brought about by overfishing or to local changes in the environment, it is dif- 

 ficult to say. Both influences may be at work. It is possible that owing to warmer 

 waters inshore, or to other causes operating in summer, the young lobsters are driven 

 into deeper water, yet they seem to be equally scarce at all seasons. The finding of 

 small lobsters cast up on the beach in the winter shows, as already pointed out, that 

 they sometimes remain at this season in comparatively shallow water. 



The inspector of fisheries of Prince Edward Island says {20!)) that lobsters 2 or 3 

 inches long "are occasionally washed ashore after storms and have been found alive 

 clinging to the meshes of hoop traps." Lobsters not much over an inch in length are 

 also said to have been taken from the stomachs of codfish. (See p. 120). 



An old lobster fisherman, Mr. Thomas Garrett, at Vinal Haven, Maine, whom I 

 have already quoted, informed me that he used to see thousands of small lobsters 

 in the spring, beginning about the 1st of April. He would find them in sounds in 

 about 20 fathoms of water, on both rocky or sandy bottom. They would ccme up 

 sticking to the lobster pots, often in considerable numbers, and would average about 

 li inches long. He had never seen many lobsters 2 to 3 inches long, probably because 

 they go so readily through the traps. 



I made particular inquiries about the occurrence of young lobsters in the lobster 

 pound on Vinal Haven Island. The smallest lobsters caught in the pound in 1893 by 

 seining were about 5 inches long. Half a dozen measuring 8 inches had also been 

 taken. Small lobsters were noticed in the larger of the two lobster pounds at South- 

 port, Maine, in March, 1892, and about half a dozen were found from 4 to 6 inches 

 long. In July and August, 1893, thirty or more lobsters were taken, varying from 3 

 to 6 inches in length. Lobsters 6 to 8 inches long could be taken in the seine. The 

 smaller lobsters were discovered by turning over rocks, after partially draining the 

 pond. None were seen under 2 inches in length. It is possible that some of these 

 young ones were raised in the pounds, yet it is not certain that this was the case, 

 since they could readily pass between the iron rods of the fence. The older lobsters, 

 which are placed in the pounds in very great numbers, would tend to drive out the 

 smaller ones, whether hatched in these inclosures or not. 



