24 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
in the winter months abundant on tbe rocks, but when the traps were placed on the 
mud not a lobster was taken. 1 
The disproportion of the sexes noticed at No Man’s Land is due, I believe, to the 
fact that the females find it more advantageous to remain on a rocky bottom while 
they are encumbered with their old eggs. As soon as these hatch, the female lobsters 
press on in large numbers toward the shore, coming up into the sounds and bays and 
on to sandy bottoms during the summer. The lobster can probably protect herself and 
eggs better while on the rocks, but almost immediately after the hatching of the eggs 
the molt occurs, for some time after which the female is helpless. JSTow the molting 
lobster seems to prefer the sandy bottom while in this critical state, probably 
because it can shield itself better from its enemies. On the sand the molting lob- 
ster may hide in tangles of seaweed, or scratch a hole and partially bury itself, as it 
often does, and remain tolerably secure, but let the soft lobster try to conceal itself 
among the rocks, and what is the result? There are hosts of bottom-feeding fish which 
haunt the rock-piles, none of which are probably more troublesome than the cunner, 
which can go almost anywhere, and would soon surround the soft lobster in its retreat 
and nibble at its legs, or snip off its eyes, which means death. The dinners, eels, and 
other fish may attempt to pick off the eggs, but these are on the under side of the body 
and except in extraordinary cases, where the ova are excessively numerous, the lobster 
can fold them between the segments of its tail and thus rest tolerably secure (seep. 
34). This theory is supported by the fact that the “ school lobsters” caught on the 
sand bottom of Vineyard Sound rarely have old eggs and very commonly possess 
soft shells. Rocky bottoms furnish food in greater abundance, at certain seasons, 
which explains their preference for these areas in winter. Where on the other hand, 
as in the region about Provincetown, Cape Cod, the bottom is uniformly sandy, the 
lobster has little or no choice of environment. 
To sum up the preceding observations, what seems to take place at the western 
end of Vineyard Sound during the season of migration is as follows: The general 
movement of lobsters toward the shore is here modified by the fact that lobsters with 
old eggs find it advantageous to remain on the rocky ledges until the young are 
hatched, while the males press on in their inward movement. After the hatching 
period the females make their appearance in large numbers in the Sound toward the last 
of June or first of July, and form alargepartof what fishermen call u school lobsters” 
or “ buckle shells.” Their appearance is probably not as sudden as it often seems. 
Fishermen, as a rule, work only one set of traps, putting them down now here, now 
there. In order to follow the movements of these animals systematically, it would be 
necessary to set traps simultaneously in different places and on different bottoms, and 
to keep them there for a considerable time. 
Some females with old eggs come into the Sound before the young are hatched, but 
the majority do not. It must be borne in mind also that many lobsters remain in the 
Sound and harbors the year round, and that these observations refer only to the move- 
ments of the larger number. Toward the latter part of August the pendulum begins 
'Speaking of the lobsters captured in February, Mr. Edwards says: "The lobsters taken this 
month have been caught on rocky bottom in five lobster pots. I have set five others in deep water on 
sandy bottom, and also on the mud, but find none. I have tried in shoal water in eelgrass, but there 
are none there. I also tried for them in the middle of Vineyard Sound and in Buzzards Bay, but 
found none.” 
