SNOW FLEAS — SPRING SUNBATHERS 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Anyone walking through a woods or over an open field during 
     
     the last three weeks will probably have noticed the abundance of snow 
     
     fleas, e5pecially on a south facing slope during sunny days. Snow 
     
     fleas be1ong to the order of insects called collembola (commonly 
     
     known as springtails). They are soft primitive wingless insects with 
     
     chewing mouth parts. They appear to the naked eye as.a jumping gray- 
     
     ish dot but in actuality have a head with two short antennae and com- 
     
     pound eyes (eight eyes on each side of head!). The body composed 
     
     of six distinct parts (somites) is long and slender. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The most noticeable method of movement is accomplished by means 
     
     of a springing mechanism composed of a spring (furcula) on the fifth 
     
     abdominal somite and a'clasp (hamula) on the third-abdominal somite; 
     
     used to hold the spring until it is released suddenly. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Little is known of their general life history. The snow flea 
     
     is most commonly noticed on the Surface of the snow during spring 
     
     especially on days when temperatures are unseasonably warm. They 
     
     tend to congregate in any indentation or imprint in the snow. For 
     
     instance, you may notice a few on the snow when you begin your hike 
     
     in early afternoon. However if you retrace your steps, you may 
     
     find some if your foot prints have almost turned black. They also 
     
    
   
   
    
     tend to concentrate around the edge of the tree canopy instead of the 
     
     base. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Young snow fleas look similar to adults. Their food is probably 
     
     mostly plant material. They have no true breathing organs, and 
     
     accomplish breathing_through the surface of their bodies. This may 
     
     explain their sensitiveness to varying climatic conditions and their 
     
     obvious environmental preference so far as amount of sunlight is 
     
     concerned. 
     
    
   
   
    
     These insects, as far as is known, are of little economic impor— 
     
     tance. Sometimes they occur in large numbers on the snow and become 
     
     a nuisance in maple sugar camps where possibly they do a small amount 
     
     of damage. On P.E-I. these hardy little creatures which start sun 
     
     bathing unseasonably early by human standards can do little more than 
     
     inspire awe in us. 
     
    
   
   
    
     - Kathy Martin 
     
     Biology Department 
     
     U.P.E.I. 
     
    
   
   
    
     LOBSTERS - FOOD FOR PAUPERS? 
     
    
   
   
    
     Leaming Murphy from the Department of Fisheries, spoke at our 
     
     March meeting on fisheries of P.E.I., past and present. The members were 
     
     particularly interested in the history of the lobster and I thought I 
     
     would highlight some of the details Leaming covered in his talk. Lobsters 
     
     were not always so sparse or so sought after. In the 1860's lobsters 
     
     were very plentiful and were easily caught with dip nets, poles or 
     
     simply by picking from the rocks. Around‘1870, the supply of lobsters 
     
     seemed inexhaustible. A canner writing in 1873 of the supply of lob- 
     
     sters for his factory stated "The heavy gale of last August drove more 
     
     lobsters ashore within five miles of myu packing house than I could make 
     
     use of during the whole summer. They.formed a row from one to five feet 
     
     deep, and I should estimate them at an average of 1,000 lobsters to every 
     
     two rods of shore." Another writer, commenting on the abundance of 
     
     lobsters in those early days, remarks: "In spite of their increased 
     
     commercial value, it is nevertheless a fact that in some of the northern 
     
    
   
   
    
     parts of the Gulf of St. Lawrence good marketable lobsters are used t 
     
     manure the fields." ‘ 
     
    
   
   
    
     By 1873, the total value of the fishery was $218,000. Ten years 
     
     later, this had increased to nearly two million dollars, while the 
     
     number of lobster canneries had increased from two to two hundred.. 
     
     The lobster pack went up from 6,711 pounds in 1870 to nearly five million 
     
     pounds in 1882. Every little cove had its factory. By the turn of the