784 NATUEAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



them in their traps and sold as food, or received at the markets. The replies were numerous, 

 and in many cases undoubtedly reliable. In four of the principal larger ^markets the average 

 sizes were stated tp be as follows, the length given being exclusive of the claws : 



Inches. 



Portland, Maine lOj 



Boston, Massachusetts 11-llJ 



New Haven, Connecticut lOj 



New York City lOj-15 



The larger Lobsters received at ]S"ew York probably came from Eastern Maine, and the 

 smaller ones from Southern New England. 



According to the fishermen, the average size of Lobsters tak^ upon certain sections of the 

 New England States runs about as foUows, the wide range in the figures given in some cases 

 resulting from the combining of data from different localities : 



Inches. 



Coast of Maine, from Eastport to Portland 8-15 



New Hampshire 11 



Vicinity of Boston A 10-13 



Vineyard Sound to New London, Connecticut 8-12 



Western Connecticut 8-10 J 



The average size is said to be somewhat greater in Eastern than in Western Maine, but even 

 at the east the smaller sizes are taken to sell to the canneries. On the coast of Nova Scotia 

 Lobsters, at present, run larger than on the coast of Maine. According to Capt. N. E. Atwood, 

 small Lobsters are seldom seen at Provincetown, or at least were seldom taken there when the 

 lobster fishery was extensively carried on at that place. In an entire smack load there would 

 not be half a dozen individuals .weighing under. two pounds. The average size of Lobsters 

 taken in the traps does not appear to remain the same at any one place throughout the year. In 

 many places they are said to run largest during the summer, or from June until the latter part 

 of August. This may not hold good, however, for all localities. About Vineyard Sound, Massa- 

 chusetts, Lobsters average largest in June, and those taken at that time are called " June " or 

 "Sand" Lobsters. They are lighter colored and have thinner shells than those caught the 

 remainder of the year. School Lobsters average a,bout the same in size in the same school, but 

 the different schools may differ more or less from one another in the average size of the Lobsters 

 composing them, and some at times consist mostly of one sex and others of the opposite sex. 



Large Lobstees. — The male Lobsters are said, as a rule, to attain the largest size, and in 

 most localities they average larger than the females. In some few places, however, we are 

 informed that the females average largest, and where this occurs it may possibly result from 

 the greater protection accorded the latter sex. A correspondent at Provincetown, Massachu- 

 setts, estimates that the larger females attain there a length of about fifteen to sixteen inches, 

 and the larger males about eighteen to twenty-two inches. Although large Lobsters have been 

 mostly exterminated from our coast, we still occasionally hear of the capture of individuals of 

 unusual size. From fishermen we have obtained information regarding three monster individuals, 

 weighing respectively thirty-five, thirty-eight, and forty pounds each, but no notice as to the 

 year when they were taken. Lobsters of over forty pounds weight have been recorded, but we 

 are inclined to look upon these giants with some distrust, as we cannot ascertain that any of them 

 were actually weighed. From more reliable sources we learn that sixteen to twenty-five pound 

 Lobsters, although by no means common, have been, and still are, occasionally found. They do 

 not seem to have been confined to any one part of the coast, as they are recorded all the way 

 frm B astp ort, Maine, to New Jersey. 



