THE LOBSTER. 
465 
star-shaped orange spots. On the front of the carapace are multitudes of little spines, 
arranged in longitudinal rows. 
Another species, the Deltura ( Qebia deltura), inhabits the same and similar localities as 
the mud-borer. In many points it much resembles that crustacean, and has been thought by 
some persons to be the female of the same species. It furnishes abundance of food to various 
fishes, especially those belonging to the ray family, and its remains are found abundantly in 
their stomachs. It is much larger than the mud-borer. All the members of this genus have 
the carapace formed into a triangular beak, and the outer pair of fore-feet formed for walking. 
One more remarkable species of burrowing Crustacea is the Calocaeis ( Calocaris macandrei ), 
which resides at a very great depth, having been ascertained to live at the bottom of the sea, 
more than a thousand feet from the surface. Here, like the rest of these creatures, it burrows 
in the mud, passing a kind of sub-marine mole-like existence. As, at this great depth, and 
under the mud, the ordinary visual powers would be of no avail, the creature has but the 
rudiments of eyes, which are small and quite without coloring. The Calocaris is mostly to be 
obtained from the stomachs of haddocks, rays, and flat-fishes. 
The color of this curious species is delicate pale rose while living, but, as is usual with 
this fleeting tint, it soon fades after death. The shell of the Calocaris is very delicate and 
thin, and the whole of the feet are covered with hairs. 
We now come to the family of the Astacidse, which includes two well-known and very 
similar creatures, the fresh-water cray-fish, and the salt-water Lobster. The latter is 
illustrated on the preceding full-page illustration, together with the Spiny Lobster. The 
Lobster is not much of a rover, seldom straying far from the spot on which it was hatched. 
It is rather remarkable that Lobsters are liable to permanent varieties, according to the locality 
in which they reside, and a good judge will be able to determine at a glance from what part of 
the country any given Lobster has been taken. 
Sometimes a green specimen is brought to market, and the salesmen have a theory that it 
has obtained this change of color by living in some spot where the ores of copper impregnate 
the earth. They consequently believe it to be poisonous. Both ideas, however, seem to be 
groundless. 
Lobsters are always sold by number and not by weight, and their value is necessarily 
dependent on the accurate eye of the dealer. The Lobsters are caught in creels or pots, like 
the crabs, but with greater ease and economy, as they are very fond of meat, be it fresh or 
tainted, and even if it should be putrefying will be attracted to it. Bright and shining objects 
seem quite to fascinate the Lobster, which will enter a “pot” even though the bait be nothing 
more than a number of empty oyster-shells placed so as to exhibit the shining white of the 
interior. A few years ago a curious bait was employed with great success. It was very 
simple, consisting of nothing more than a common phial bottle, silvered on the inside. This 
was hung in the lobster-pots, and served to attract the creatures to the bait. It has been 
suggested that the potency of this strange allurement may be attributed to its resemblance to 
the phosphorescent shining of putrid animal substances. But it is quite as probable that the 
glittering object may serve simply to attract the Lobster’s attention, and that when it has 
approached in order to satisfy its curiosity, it perceives the bait, and immediately enters the 
trap. It is found that both bait and bottle are required, as if the latter is used alone, the 
Lobsters discover their mistake and quit a spot where they find no food. 
Like many other crustaceans, the Lobster is a most combative animal, quarrelling on the 
slightest pretext, and fighting most furiously. In these combats it mostly loses a claw or 
a leg, being obliged to discard entirely a wounded member. A fresh leg or claw sprouts from 
the scar, and it is to this circumstance that the frequently unequal size of Lobster-claws is 
owing. Lobsters, indeed, part with these valuable members with strange indifference, and 
will sometimes shake them off on hearing a sudden noise. It is said that the commanders of 
certain preventive sloops were accustomed to levy a tax upon the Lobster-fishermen, threaten- 
ing that unless a certain number of Lobsters were furnished to them they would fire cannon 
over the Lobster-grounds and make the creatures shake off their claws. 
Vol. in.- 59. 
