164 abstracts: fisheries 



FISHERIES. — Natural history of the American lobster. Francis 

 Hobart Herrick, Western Reserve University. Bulletin Bureau 

 of Fisheries, 29: 149-408, pis. 28-47. 1911. 



After a preminary chapter upon the zoological relations, habits and 

 development of the lobsters and allied Crustacea, the author deals 

 first with the lobster in aspects of its economic importance — history and 

 methods of the fisheries, instincts and behavior of the animal and effect 

 of external conditions in relation to abundance. Growth and size are 

 discussed with reference to tradition and fact, and the process of molting 

 is the subject of a long fourth chapter, followed by an account of the 

 enemies of the lobster, parasites and messmates, diseases and fatalities. 

 The ensuing major portion of the work is occupied with the anatomy, 

 embryology and physiology of Homarus americanus, a full chapter being 

 given to the great forceps, another to the phenomena of defensive mutila- 

 tion and regeneration. Reproduction, development and rate of growth 

 are discussed at length with emphasis upon their significance in relation 

 to the lobster fisheries and lobster culture, and the book concludes with 

 a most practical discussion of methods of preservation and propagation 

 of the lobster. 



Professor Herrick's conclusions and recommendations endorse the 

 theories and practices of Dr. A. D. Mead in his lobster-culture work for 

 the Rhode Island Fish Commission, the essential feature of which is the 

 rearing of artifically-hatched fry to the self-protective stage before liber- 

 ating them; and Professor Herrick also supports the arguments of Dr. 

 George W. Field, of the Massachusetts Board of Fish Commissioners in 

 regard to lobster laws. He criticizes and deprecates the prevalent 

 measures consisting of closed seasons, gage limits, and the planting of 

 artificially hatched fry. Closed seasons are futile because they do not 

 cover the ten-month and variable spawning period of the lobster; owing 

 to the increasing productiveness of the female lobster from year to year, 

 by leaps which bring the number of eggs from 10,000 at the 10-inch 

 size to 100,000 at 16 inches, the legalized destruction of all adults over 

 9 and 10 inches is a methodical proscription of the most indispensable 

 element in the race; while, since the lobster's rate of survival is probably 

 but 2 in 30,000, it would appear that all of the millions of lobster fry 

 planted on the coast of New England and the Provinces during the last 

 ten years would have had to be multiplied by 1250 to maintain the fishery 

 barely at equilibrium by this means. " If we would preserve this fishery, " 

 says Professor Herrick, " we must reverse our laws, as Doctor Field has 



