A R TIFICIA L HA TCHING OF MA RINE FOOD-FISHES. 255 



the success in hatching the eggs of the lobster, a form 

 rapidly diminishing in numbers both in Canada and the 

 United Kingdom, has been noteworthy. Thus in the floating- 

 boxes or incubators in 1893, four hundred and eighty-four 

 millions two hundred and eighty-six thousand eggs of the 

 lobster gave four hundred and twenty-seven millions two 

 hundred and eighty-five thousand young lobsters, or 88 "2 

 per cent., while in the hatchery proper another series of 

 two millions five hundred thousand larval lobsters were pro- 

 duced. These valuable crustaceans are therefore readily 

 hatched, but the difficulties begin shortly afterwards, since 

 they devour each other so ravenously that the mortality is 

 serious. Professor Prince, the Canadian Commissioner of 

 Fisheries, indeed informs me that it is found necessary, at 

 an early stage, to convey them in casks of sea-water to 

 suitable sites in the inshore grounds, and cautiously sink 

 them. As the casks have a large hole on one side, the 

 young lobsters can freely escape at leisure into the ocean to 

 follow their temporary pelagic existence. Professor Prince 

 is of opinion that the Wilmot jar is, perhaps, the most 

 successful apparatus for the hatching of these eggs. In 

 Britain, it would be a very difficult task, even at Barra, to 

 procure a tenth of the foregoing number of eggs, which are 

 supplied by the various lobster " canneries " in the neigh- 

 bourhood. In regard to the effects of these experiments on 

 the surrounding waters, the fishermen attribute the shoals 

 of young cod to the operations of the hatchery ; but 

 no observation of note appears yet to have been made 

 concerning the lobsters. 



Coming now to the continent of Europe, it is found that 

 Norway, long so famous for its great cod-fisheries, holds a 

 prominent place in marine fish-hatching, mainly through the 

 efforts of Captain Dannevig, who, since 1884, has had 

 charge of the sea-fish hatchery at Flodevig, Arendal. Year 

 by year this energetic official has improved his methods, 

 so that since the hatchery was established no less than 

 nine hundred millions of larval cod have been placed in 

 the fjords of the neighbourhood. Dannevig has also 

 successfully reared the young cod in his enclosed ponds 



