174 BUI^I^ETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



told me that in the period of plenty, from 1855 to i860, he had taken 150 in this way 

 in a single morning. 



Then followed the hoop net or bag, sometimes called "plumpers" in England, or 

 "Fallenkorbe" (basket traps) in Germany, which were in extensive use at the middle 

 of the eighteenth and locally to the middle of the nineteenth century, or even later. 

 This was a simple iron hoop with bag net attached and often with crossed and arched 

 half hoops over its mouth. When baited and sunk it had to be watched and pulled at 

 frequent intervals in order to secure the lobsters before they could crawl out. About 

 the year 1858 a giant male lobster, said to have weighed from 25 to 30 pounds, was 

 taken in one of these hoop nets in Golden Cove, Vinal Haven, Me. 



Travis {264) describes the use of hoops at Scarborough, England, in 1768, but 

 Pennant a few years later remarked that lobsters were sometimes — 



taken by the hand, but in greater quantity in pots, a sort of trap formed of twigs and baited with garbage; 

 they are formed like a wire mousetrap, so when the lobster enters there is no return. They are fastened 

 to a cord sunk in the sea, and the place marked by a buoy. 



This English lobster trap undoubtedly came, as Boeck suggests, from the Norwegian 

 "Tejner," or baskets, which were the Dutch adaptation of the eelpot, the Scandinavian 

 name being derived from "tiin," the long tough roots of the juniper tree (24). After 

 1 713 they were made of plaited willow twigs. Linnaeus saw similar baskets in 1746 

 in use on the coast of Bohuslan. Herbst {136), writing in 1790, says that lobsters were 

 then caught in "Tiiner," "Teiner," or lobster baskets (" Hummer tienen" or "Hummer- 

 korbe") made of birch twigs. 



The tines in later use among the fiords of the Norwegian coast were sometimes 

 made of slats or rods nailed to small hoops, and at considerable intervals, which were 

 filled in with interwoven cords of hemp. There were entrance funnels at either end, a 

 doof at the top, and a flat stone lashed to the bottom for weight, while in the center of 

 the trap was suspended a peg for attaching the bait. (See J09, p. 733.) When a lobster 

 was taken from the tine, his claws were securely bound with pack thread, and thus held 

 until he was delivered to the submerged box or car to await final transportation to 

 market. 



Essentially this old-style trap has been retained in Europe, where it is to be seen 

 at the present day. Those examined at St. Andrews, Scotland, where they are called 

 "lobster creels," in July, 1896, were small cylinders, made of a wooden frame covered 

 with netting, and were anchored by means of a flat stone tied to the bottom. A fisher- 

 man with whom I conversed on the beach had 40 of these creels, and was going to haul 

 them at 5 o'clock that evening, but with no expectation of taking any lobsters, for, 

 as he expressed it, the sea was too calm; rough weather brought better luck. The 

 "tiner" of the Helgoland fishermen, according to Ehrenbaum {84), are birdcagelike, 

 cylindrical or four sided, with the bottom weighted with stones, covered with netting 

 or wirework, and with funnel-shaped ends, like eelpots. Each is sunk to the bottom 

 with attached cord which is floated with corks. In Norway hemispherical wicket 

 traps, with funnel at the top, were occasionally used. 



