Evening star., 1901-04-27

with cloth sides, admitting food, but eN-
Guiding enemies. BY such means and great
expenditure of labor il has been possible
to protect only thousands, whereas hun
dreds of millions are to be dealt with
An artificial pond, stocked with natural
food for infant Holsters. may be made an
adjunct to the new hatchery. Such pro-
lection need last but six or eight weeks
after which the young now three-fifths of
an inch long, goes to the bottom where he
can readily care for himself. hiding, as he
does, beneath rocks and stone. During the
year after taking on this new mode of eN-
istence he grows to be two three inches
long, and sheds his shell eight or eleven
times. at longer and longer intervals. He
rips his Old shell up the back and jumps out
or 1t after the manner of the periodical
locust. BY five years he has attained the
length of ten and one-half inches and a
weight of one and three-Quarter pounds
having molted twenty-five times. His span
of life appears to be indefinite At Sandy
HOOK some time ago a lobster weighing
'hlrty-three pounds was caught. This holds
the worlds record for size. Its claws were
large enough to clip off the arm of a man.
The adult lobster molts every summer He
preyS upon all sorts Of bottom fish, even
crabs. starffsh and CLAIMS When hungry
ne VIII crack the shell of his weaker
Drother and make a meal of him. Some
times he mikes his diet with a ration of
vegetable matter.
The Burglar Instinct His Doom
UEcle Sam wants the states hordering
~
the 1,3O miles of lobster coast to aid him
in this crusade, and save the lobster from
determination. While he is spending his
money on It's artificial propagation he will
expect them to enact more stringent laws
and enforce them more vigorously than
hitherto. The hundreds of millions of
young to be annually turned out of the
new hatchery will be planted along the
Maine coast, where the threatened indus
try has been most active. There 3,l00 men
operate 1o6,oU "potS'-as lobster traps
are termed. These are half cylinders of
lathS with a funnel-Shaped net extending
inward from each end. In the center an
upright spear-head holds the hait-usually
cod. hakC or halibut heads. Attracted by
this, the lobster reconnoiters around and
over the pot before entering. He always
backs through the network funnel. Here
he shows the true burglar instinct. He
must face any foe which may chance to
follow. Were he to navigate forward his
claws would hinder his entrance. Once
past the fatal Threshold he begins to sus-
pect that the feast before him has been
set with sinister motive. He speedily dis
covers his predicament, and, as a result of
the terror which had overpowered him,
loses all appetite. He spends the remainder
of his time madly pacing back and forth
in his prison, seeking a means Of escape,
but too much excited to realize that he
must crawl out he crawled in. His
further history is that the pot is raised
from the sea bottom at low water. he is
placed with many others of his kind in
one of series Of floating, half submerged
boxes; in a few days he is crowded into
a barrel kept fresh by ice and Seaweed.
Thence the eXcrutiating torture OF the
cuisine: the final journey down red lane.
JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS, JR.