18 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
of the current, since in the former case the scent, or fine particles coming from the 
bait, is more widely diffused. Lobsters are sometimes wary and shy of entering 
the 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. 
Many facts will be given in the course of this work which illustrate either directly 
or indirectly the intelligence of the lobster. 1 will add here only the following account 
of a lobster which was kept at the Bothsay aquarium, in England (Nature, xv, p. 415, 
March 8, 1877). A flounder was unintentionally left in one of the aquaria, in which 
three lobsters were placed. The largest lobster immediately appropriated the fish, 
which was then dead, and buried it beneath a heap of shingle, on which he mounted 
guard. Five times within two hours was the fish unearthed, and as often did the 
lobster shovel the gravel over it with his huge claws, each time ascending the pile 
and turning his bold, defensive front to his companions. 
THE LOBSTER’S POWERS OF MOVEMENT. 
The adult lobster lives and feeds exclusively upon the sea bottom, which it never 
leaves of its own accord in any considerable degree. In traveling over the bottom 
in search of its prey, the lobster walks nimbly upon the tips of its slender legs. The 
large claws are extended forward in front of the head, a position which offers the least 
resistance to the water, while tlie two hinder pairs of walking legs, which end in hard 
spur-like joints, serve as picks to steady the movements of the animal. In thus going 
about it has the constant aid of the delicate swimmerets, attached vertically to the 
under surface of the “tail,” each of which consists of a short stalk and two very 
flexible blades. By the movements of the swimmerets the lobster is impelled slowly 
forward without the aid of the walking legs. The branches of the swimming feet are 
garnished with long, chitinous seta 1 , or hairs, to which, as is well known, the eggs in 
the female are attached. Thus these appendages are not only natatory, but play an 
important part in reproduction, and by their almost incessant beating movements 
serve to keep the developing eggs well aerated and clean. 
When taken out of the water the lobster can only crawl, in its vain attempts to 
walk, owing to the heavy weight of the body and claws, which the slender walking 
legs are now unable to sustain. If turned over on its back the animal is usually able 
to right itself when out of the water, but not without great effort. If placed near 
the salt water and left to its own devices, it will almost immediately strike out by the 
nearest path for the sea with as keen a sense of direction as the sea turtle will show 
when upon land. Its power of crawling on land is, however, limited to short distances, 
and the lobster never forsakes the salt water of its own accord and, as has been said, 
never willingly leaves the sea bottom. 
In exploring its feeding-grounds, where an enemy is likely to be encountered, the 
legs which carry the long claws are extended forward in front of the head, or carried 
somewhat obliquely, their tips resting on the bottom, and the long sensitive “feelers” 
are wa ved constantly back and forth to give warning of any foe or other objects which 
the eye may fail to detect. These are exclusively organs of touch. If the anticipated 
