FOOD FROM THE CRUSTACEANS AND MOLLUSCA. 387 



they are likely to be still rarer in the future, since the 

 average size is being diminished by a rapacity similar 

 to that which has ruined several of our English fisheries. 

 Placed within a floating "lobster car," the finer specimens 

 are selected for consumption in Boston, New York, 

 and other centres of population, and the smaller ones are 

 consigned to the smacks of the various lobster factories. 

 In the factory — not altogether a savoury place — they 

 are boiled wholesale in large coppers, and are then taken 

 out with " scoop-nets " and thrown over the shoulders 

 of the operators. A rapid dissection follows, and the 

 meat is forced out by various appliances. The "cracker," 

 by two dexterous blows with a cleaver, breaks the 

 claws, and their contents are picked out with forks 

 by a troop of young-lady "helps." Other female 

 functionaries place an assortment of meat in each tin 

 and complete the weighing operations. The cover is 

 put in place, and the tin comes under the hands of the 

 solderer, a workman who commands a high price for his 

 exertions. The solderer closes the " can," with the ^ 

 exception of a minute hole, through which the enclosed 

 air is expelled during a subsequent boiling in a " bath- 

 caldron." The tins are then taken out, completely sealed, 

 and are subjected to a second boiling lasting several 

 hours. The remaining processes are connected with 

 ornamentation and the affixing of labels. Nine-tenths 

 of the lobsters " packed " in this way are sold in foreign y 

 markets. 



As much as 30,000 tons of lobsters are said to be 

 caught every season in the Lower Provinces, and more 

 than 14,000,000 lib. tins of lobster are sent annually 

 into the markets of the world from British America 

 alone, besides those packed in the United States. In 

 1879 there were preserved in tins in Prince Edward 

 Island, 2,272,825 1 lb. tins of lobsters. The Bay of 

 Chaleur and the Madelaine Islands are the great seats 

 of the lobster fishery. This species is Homarus Ameri- 

 canus. 



Of lobsters and crayfish 1,367,04.3 in number, and of 

 CC2 



