NATURAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
179 
or try to pin them down with an oar, and they will dart backward toward deeper water; 
if still pursued they flee in other directions, zigzagging their way over the bottom until 
safety is found at still greater depths. 
Lobsters kept in aquaria of sufficient size and provided with running water often 
thrive, and if they receive proper care will live for a long period. If the tank is pro- 
vided with a pile of stones, the lobster will examine this carefully until the most attrac- 
tive holes are discovered. When several individuals are placed in the same aquarium, 
each soon selects a hole or corner, for the possession of which it is always ready to fight. 
This is true of the “lobsterlings” as well as the adults, showing that the power of asso- 
ciation or of the formation of habits, which is the mark of intelligence, is well developed. 
When the occupants of the same aquarium are of equal size and show no weakness, they 
usually live in peace; but should one become disabled, as by the loss of a claw, it is 
quickly attacked by the strong and forthwith destroyed. 
As the lobster lies in its corner of the aquarium, usually with the tail folded, and 
always so if a female in “berry,” it slowly sweeps the water with its long, sensitive 
antennae, which are now held erect, now lowered, until they lie horizontal and extend 
directly forward in front of the body. The smaller antennae are elevated, while the 
stouter outer branch of each beats with a rythmical up-and-down movement; this 
branch carries the delicate hairs or setae, which are regarded as the organs of smell. 
One often sees the animal deliberately lower the whip-like branches of the first pair of 
antennae and clean them by drawing them through the brushes of the large maxillipeds; 
the great claws when not extended and ready for immediate use are turned obliquely 
inward and downward, with their tips touching the bottom. 
All animals that play the part of scavengers must have strong powers of scent or 
keen eyes to guide them to their prey, and lobsters are no exception to this rule. The 
turkey buzzard sees, but, according to Audubon and Bachman, can not scent its prey, 
while the lobster, though dull of sight, has a keen chemical or “olf acton 7 ” sense. This 
is illustrated by the way in which it can be enticed into the traps. It is asserted that 
when traps are set on a trawl placed across the tide, the catch is greater than when the 
trawl is set in the direction of the current, since in the former case the chemical sub- 
stances, or fine particles coming from the bait, are more widely diffused. Lobsters are 
sometimes wary and shy of entering a trap, and have been seen to crawl about it several 
times and examine it cautiously on all sides before, too weak or too hungry to resist 
temptation, they finally enter. When the pots are hauled, lobsters sometimes escape 
by darting backward through the narrow opening of one of the funnels, but this seldom 
happens and may be set down to accident. 
Sluggish as the lobster may appear when out of the water and partially exhausted, 
it is quite a different animal, as we have just seen, when free to move at will in its 
natural abode on the bottom of the sea. In the water it is agile, wary, pugnacious, 
capable of defending itself against enemies often larger and more powerful than itself, 
and on occasion of exhibiting a high degree of speed. It often captures its prey by 
stealth and with concealed weapons. Lying hidden in a bunch of seaweeds, in a rock 
