22 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
migration, it is evident that regions once depleted would in time be restored naturally 
by accessions from neighboring sections. This does not appear to be the case, and 
we may look upon each geographical region on the coast as inhabited by a distinct 
school of lobsters, which hold their ground fairly constantly, so that if their numbers 
are depleted by overfishing they would under natural conditions be stocked but 
slowly. If this argument is sound, and it certainly looks as if the Cape Cod region 
were a case in point, it must follow that the young are not widely distributed, but I 
can hardly accept this as probable. It would seem as if the young, which, to be sure, 
have little powers of locomotion, would always tend to find an extra local distribution 
by tides, winds, and currents. Furthermore, if this were the case, it would follow that 
restocking under natural conditions is a slow process at best. Writing in December, 
1885, Rathbun says ( 158 ): 
The Cape Cod lobster fishery has been at a low standing for many years and, although but few men 
have engaged in the fishery of that region for a long time, there are, as yet, no signs of improvement. 
That lobsters move up and down the coast to some extent, is inevitable, although 
such a migration may be regarded as accidental rather than deliberate or instinctive. 
They may also return suddenly, as some believe, to places where they have not been 
seen for years. Thus a correspondent wrote to the United States Fish Commission 
from South Amboy, New Jersey, February 15, 1886, that lobsters had made an appear- 
ance there after an absence of about twelve years. “I discovered them late in October, 
and captured a hundred before the cold weather set in, after which I could not catch 
any.” (Bulk U. S. F. C., vol. vi, p. 407.) Statements of this kind must, however, be 
received with much caution, since what appears to be a sudden arrival may be due 
to desultory observations. 
The subject of the schooling of lobsters is one about which it is very difficult to 
get accurate information, and we need to use much caution in drawing conclusions 
from too slender data. The only region which I have been able to study for a number 
of consecutive seasons is that about Woods Hole, Massachusetts, including Marthas 
Vineyard, No Man’s Land, and the Elizabeth Islands, and I will give in some detail 
the observations Avhich I have been able to make in this limited area, believing that 
they will shed some light upon this interesting and perplexing question. 
The fishermen of a part of this region set their traps from the last of April to the 
middle or last of June on rocky bottom in the vicinity of Gay Head and No Man’s 
Land, while from the middle or last of June until September they generally fish upon 
the sandy bottom of the Sound in much shallower water. A few lobstermen fish 
during September upon the rocks. They distinguish “rock lobsters” from what they 
call “school lobsters.” The latter are also called “sand” or “June lobsters,” and are 
considered more migratory than the “rock lobsters” or “ground-holders.” “School 
lobsters” are most abundant in summer from the middle of June to the middle or last 
of July on a sandy bottom in Vineyard Sound in 5 to 10 fathoms of water. 
On June 28, 1890, 1 found the fishermen at Menemsha 1 setting their traps both off 
Gay Head on a rock bottom and on the sandy bottom of the Sound. The difference 
1 Menemsha is a small fishing settlement in the town of Chilmark, Marthas Vineyard, about 2 
miles due east from Gay Head, on Vineyard Sound. Gay Head, the remarkable promontory forming 
the western extremity of Marthas Vineyard, is 14 miles southwest of Woods Hole Harbor and 6 miles 
north of No Man’s Land. 
