ON THE MOVEMENTS OF CERTAIN LOBSTERS. 
229 
the following way: If lobsters caught at Woods Hole and released at Gay Head 
were recaptured at Woods Hole, and if lobsters taken at the same time at Gay Head 
and released at Woods Hole were recaptured at Gay Head, it would seem that only a 
homing instinct could account for the movement. 
It is quite possible that during June and July lobsters seek deeper water, although 
it is generally believed that during the spring and early summer the general migration 
is from deeper to more shallow water, and that the return to the deeper water does 
not occur until fall. During the summer months lobsters are caught off the coast of 
Maine in shallow water, ranging from 3 to 10 fathoms in depth, and it is not until 
October and November that the pots are set in deeper water, from 35 to 40 fathoms. 
Professor Herrick states that the fishermen generally take their traps from the deeper 
water and place them in the shallow water of the sound at about the time that we 
have found the animals seeking the deeper water. From the neighborhood of Gay 
Head the general migration into deeper water is said to begin the latter part of August 
and to continue during September and October. If a relatively large number of both 
sexes, and of different sizes, should be captured at Cuttyliunk or a place similarly 
located, and after being tagged should be returned to the place of their capture, 
valuable data of a positive nature would undoubtedly be secured. One wishes that 
this might be attempted. 
It is possible that the movements are not dependent upon any of the above- 
mentioned factors, but that the supply of food is all-controlling. The peculiar behavior 
of female lobsters in the vicinity of No Mans Land, as observed by Mr. Vinal Edwards 
and recorded by Professor Herrick, would seem, however, to make this improbable. 
In writing of the lobster’s powers of movement, Professor Herrick says that by the 
flexion of its abdomen the animal is able to shoot backward through the water with 
astonishing rapidity, sometimes going, according to one observer, 25 feet in less than 
a second. He quotes Travis as follows: 
In tlic water they can run nimbly upon their legs or small claws, and, if alarmed, can spring tail 
forward to a surprising distance, as swift as a bird can fly. The fishermen see them pass about 30 feet, 
and by the swiftness of their motion suppose that they go much farther. Athen«us remarks this 
circumstance, and says that incurved lobsters will spring with the activity of dolphins. 
While we do not know what method of progression lobster No. 1000 adopted in 
making her record of 12 miles in 3 days, we do know from the course taken by this 
animal, as well as by Nos. 1014 and 1022, that associated with their rapidity of move- 
ment there is remarkable endurance. 
It is generally believed that the female lobster molts very soon after its young have 
escaped from the egg membranes, and although it is manifestly incorrect to consider a 
lobster artificially freed from its eggs as one which has completed the incubation period, 
the fact that many were recaptured with tags long after the period at which the young 
would probably have hatched under normal conditions, is a proof that in many cases 
females do not change their covering as soon as they are relieved of the obligations of 
maternity. One tag was taken as late as September 21. 
One of the most interesting results from this series of experiments is the direct 
evidence of the merciless persecution of the lobster. The chances of continued life 
for a lobster that has reached a marketable size are extremely slight. Of the 140 
liberated at Nob.sque, more than 20 per cent are known to have been captured within 
three months, and 15 of the 49 liberated on July 2 at Woods Hole, or fully 30 per 
cent, were taken by September 15. Of course, these numbers do not begin to show 
