THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
165 
When the lobsters have attained a length of 34 or 4 inches they become more 
bold, leave their burrows among the rock piles, and seek the shelter of stones, beneath 
which they excavate a shallow hole. Here they lie concealed from their enemies and 
are ready at all times to strike a blow at the smaller and weaker animals which pass 
within the reach of their claws. 
The young lobsters enumerated in table 33 were captured in or near Vineyard Sound 
or raised in the hatchery of the station of the Fish Commission. Fifteen of these 
(Nos. 2-16) were collected by Mr. Vinal N. Edwards on Nobska Beach, in Woods Hole, 
January 28, 1882, after a hard storm, when there had been much anchor frost. Mr. 
Edwards recorded in his journal the finding also of crabs with eggs, thrown upon 
the beach, together with isopods, holothurians, sea-anemones, and a large number of 
fish, such as dinners, tautog, hake, sculpins, smelt, flatfish, herring, tomcod, and 
eels. Mr. Edwards writes that many young lobsters came ashore at the same time on 
the point of land where the Fish Commission station is now built. Several years ago, 
when small lobsters were used for bait, he used to find them in comparative abun- 
dance, from 14 to 3 or 4 inches in length, under stones in shallow water, near Pine 
Island, on the north side of “The Hole.” Some of the stones would be out of the 
water at low tide. No small lobsters are found in this place or vicinity at the present 
time. Whether this disappearance is due to the general decrease in the number of 
lobsters brought about by overfishing or to local changes in the environment, it is dif- 
ficult to say. Both influences may be at work. It is possible that owing to warmer 
waters inshore, or to other causes operating in summer, the young lobsters are driven 
into deeper water, yet they seem to be equally scarce at all seasons. The finding of 
small lobsters cast up on the beach in the winter shows, as already pointed out, that 
they sometimes remain at this season in comparatively shallow water. 
The inspector of fisheries of Prince Edward Island says ( 209 ) that lobsters 2 or 3 
inches long “are occasionally washed ashore after storms and have been found alive 
clingiug to the meshes of hoop traps.” Lobsters not much over an inch in length are 
also said to have been taken from the stomachs of codfish. (See p. 120). 
An old lobster fisherman, Mr. Thomas Garrett, at Vinal Haven, Maine, whom 1 
have already quoted, informed me that he used to see thousands of small lobsters 
in the spring, beginning about the 1st of April. He would find them in sounds in 
about 20 fathoms of water, on both rocky or sandy bottom. They would ccme up 
sticking to the lobster pots, often in considerable numbers, and would average about 
14 inches long. He had never seen many lobsters 2 to 3 inches long, probably because 
they go so readily through the traps. 
I made particular inquiries about the occurrence of young lobsters in the lobster 
pound on Vinal Haven Island. The smallest lobsters caught in the pound in 181*3 by 
seining were about 5 inches long. Half a dozen measuring 8 inches had also been 
taken. Small lobsters were noticed in the larger of the two lobster pounds at South- 
port, Maine, in March, 1892, and about half a dozen were found from 4 to 6 inches 
long. In July and August, 1893, thirty or more lobsters were taken, varying from 3 
to 6 inches in length. Lobsters 6 to 8 inches long could be taken in the seine. The 
smaller lobsters were discovered by turning over rocks, after partially draining the 
pond. None were seen under 2 inches in length. It is possible that some of these 
yonng ones were raised in the pounds, yet it is not certain that this was the case, 
since they could readily pass between the iron rods of the fence. The older lobsters, 
which are placed in the pounds in very great numbers, would tend to drive out the 
smaller ones, whether hatched in these inclosures or not. 
