Crustacea. 



95 



shell of the Norwegian oyster is thin, and of a bright red 

 colour. 



The Lobster Fishery of America. — Lobster fishing has 

 been followed at Marshfield and Plymouth, Massachusetts, 

 for 30 years and more. From 50,000 to 100,000 lobsters 

 are taken annually, and sold to the smacks for the Boston 

 market, and to pedlars for the inland. 



On the North American coasts a large trade is done 

 in putting up lobsters in tins. For some years past the 

 packing-houses of Portland, Maine, have shipped lobsters 

 in tins to England in ever-increasing quantites. The taste 

 thus acquired has created a demand for the article in a 

 fresh and more palatable state. To supply this demand, 

 the Portland firm of Marston and Sons, extensive dealers, 

 conceived the idea of shipping live lobsters by the British 

 steamers which ply between Liverpool and that port. The 

 efforts made in that direction have not, however, been very 

 successful, the number transported which reached their 

 destination alive being very small. The packing of lobsters 

 in America has become so enormous that, at the present 

 rate of canning, serious apprehensions are felt in some 

 quarters that the supply will not last many years longer. 

 A few years ago it was not uncommon to catch lobsters 

 weighing from 10 to 20 pounds each; now the average 

 is from three to six pounds, and growing less, thousands 

 which are caught weighing but little over one pound each. 



Quite a fleet of small vessels is employed in this 

 important branch of commercial industry. The Americans 

 having almost denuded their own coast of this useful and 

 valuable crustacean, are now busy fishing for it on the 

 British Atlantic coasts. 



Prior to the year 1869, no mention is made in the 

 Canadian Fishery reports of the yield of lobsters. 



