15 JULY 1871, Page 3

A lobster is not a wild animal. A be may

be. At least that seems to be the legal view, for at the Exeter Assizes a man who had stolen a lobster from the " pot " of a fellow-fisherman in the Channel, and who pleaded that in defence, was convicted of theft. On the other hand, Mr. Serjeant Petersdorff, County-Court Judge of Devon, has delayed judgment in an action to recover some bees, doubting whether they are not wild animals. They had been hived, and if the Serjeant ultimately finds they were wild, Dr. Cumming will have to petition for an Act to punish bee poachers. To distinguish the crime from theft, the sentence might be to eat nothing but honey for a fortnight. The bees would be quite safe then.