86 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



the fishing season, it is evident that the annual supply can not be appreciably affected 

 by this method when conducted upon its present scale. 



If there were a loss of half or more of the product of eggs during the ten or eleven 

 months while they are carried by the female, then we should increase the supply if 

 we were able to take the eggs at an early day and secure the hatching of the entire 

 number. As a matter of fact, however, unless the lobster is destroyed outright, she 

 manages to preserve her eggs with remarkable success, and a very large proportion 

 of the number originally laid are almost invariably hatched. In the case of many 

 fish, on the contrary, which extrude their eggs into the water and leave them a prey 

 to the elements and to enemies of all kinds, it will obviously tend to increase the 

 species if we take the eggs, artificially fertilize them, and tide them over this early 

 danger-period, as is now commonly done. 



It is something to make one blade of grass grow where none has grown before, and 

 it is well to use every means in adding, in however small a degree, to the supply of 

 lobsters on our coast, but what I wish to point out is that we may deceive ourselves in 

 regard to the success of our efforts. The placing of free-swimming crustacean larvae 

 in the ocean is a very different thing from placing young fish in a pond or stream, 

 since the lobster, while restricted in its adult state, in its larval stage is at the 

 mercy of the winds and currents and surface-feeding animals, and subject to distri- 

 bution over very wide areas. This arises from the fact that while in this condition 

 it lives near the surface of the water. 



If we could save 100 instead of 2 out of every 10,000 hatched, every million young 

 would give us 10,000 adults, and every billion would yield 10,000,000 lobsters, capable 

 of reproduction. If we could preserve 1,000 out of every 10,000 eggs hatched (which 

 is, of course, far too much to expect), every million young would yield 100,000 adults. 



In view of these facts, it seems to me that, before liberating the young lobsters, 

 an attempt should be made to rear them until they have passed their free-swimming 

 stages, that is to say, until they have molted five times, and are from three to six 

 weeks old. One hundred lobsters in the fifth or sixth larval stage would be of more 

 value than many thousands of the youngest forms, since, like the adults, they then 

 live upon the bottom and are able, in a great measure, to protect themselves. 



Whether such au attempt would be successful or not, could be decided only after 

 very careful experiments. Some of the conditions necessary for success can be out- 

 lined now, such as (1) the need of relatively large inclosures, where overcrowding, 

 which inevitably results in destruction to the young, can be avoided; (2) a supply of 

 pure sea water, as free from sediment as possible; (3) a means of regulating the light 

 admitted to the inclosures (possibly a needless precaution); (1) a means of retaining 

 the young without injury, so they will not have access to the water outside until the 

 proper time. 



The first step to be taken is to study the habits of the young in ponds, or places 

 where they can be watched during the day and night, and to ascertain how near the 

 surface they maintain themselves at such times. 



While we can not say with certainty that, in the present state of our knowledge, 

 such experiments would suceed, I believe that enough is known to encourage us to 

 make an attempt in this direction. 



