28 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The lobster pound at the Viual Haven Islands is a granite basin with a clay or 
mud bottom, and witb low mud banks in certain parts of the shore. At low tide it 
has an average depth of 3 fathoms, while the difference between tides is 10 feet. On 
the 26th of August, 1893, 1 explored this pound in a boat, in company with Mr. Thomas 
Barton, an intelligent lobster fisherman, and had an excellent opportunity to observe 
how lobsters behave under such conditions on a bright summer afternoon. It was 
quite common to see these animals partially buried in the mud in shallow water, 
their antennae, eyes, and part of the shell projecting from the muddy surface. We 
could rely upon finding lobsters in the holes which they excavate beneath stones, aud 
rarely failed to discover one or more individuals in every good-sized chink among 
the rocks. Others lay at the mouths of burrows which they had dug straight into the 
banks. Comparatively few lobsters were seen lying upon the bottom or crawling 
actively over it. Occasionally two or three lobsters could be dislodged from a common 
place of retreat, and Mr. Barton said that in the spring, when the ice was breaking up, 
he had taken five lobsters from a single hole in the mud. Some years ago the lobsters 
made their way out of this pound, as I was told by an old fisherman formerly employed 
there, by excavating a submarine passage beneath the dam. In order to effect their 
escape, they had dug down beneath the stones to a depth of from 2 to 3 feet. 
At one of the pounds in Southport, Maine, I had a still better opportunity to 
study the burrowing habits of the lobster. The larger pound at this island is under the 
charge of Mr. A. P. Greeuleaf, a man of much experience in fishing the lobster and 
a very intelligent observer of its habits. 1 2 He finds that the lobster burrows most 
extensively in winter, when it is far less active in the pounds than at other times. 
When the water is drawn off from the pound in winter the lobsters often remain in 
their holes, the mouths of which are then exposed along the banks, but in summer 
they are more careful under these conditions to forsake their burrows and crawl into 
deeper water. 
In digging, lobsters probably make use of their large claws and walking legs, and 
possibly the tail-fan may be brought into service as a scoop or shovel, but I have 
no observation in support of this latter supposition. In some cases, however, I have 
noticed the under side of the tail-fan to be scratched and scarified and the marginal 
fringe of hairs worn down in such a way as to suggest the probability of such a use. 3 
That lobsters transport stones with their large claws, Mr. Greeuleaf had the oppor- 
tunity to observe, while watching a lobster one day in the pound. The animal was 
maneuvering about a hole, in 3 feet of water. It was seen to crawl up to the burrow, 
possibly one which had been dug by another lobster, and cautiously put in first one 
claw and then the other. Finally it went in so as to conceal about half the length of 
1 Mr. Greenleaf is the only fisherman whom I have met who has independently determined the 
period during which the female lobster regularly carries her eggs. 
2 The process by which the hole is said to be excavated solely by means of the tail has been 
described by a writer on the habits of the lobster { 181 ). This paper abounds in errors, and leads one 
to suspect that the author has drawn too largely upon the accounts of others; still, this fact need not 
discredit this particular observation. He says : “The tail is slowly drawn up at first, taking as much 
of the mud as possible on its under side; then, when well under the body, a final powerful jerk sends 
the mud or sand from out in front, and at the same time draws the lobster farther back into the cavity 
thus made, enabling him to get a better grasp for repeating the process over and over again, till by 
degrees he disappears from sight.” The statement that “these holes are for the shelter of the lobster 
during the period of exuviation,” however plausible it may be, is contrary to observed facts. 
