BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 439 



that this useful crustacean may be hatched on a large scale if care is 

 taken simply to have sufficiently salty and pure water, which may easily 

 be obtained by means of a filtering apparatus. The current should 

 always come from below, so as to carry away the small animals Which 

 may develop among the eggs. As, however, 1 could not consider the 

 question as completely solved before I Lad observed young lobsters able 

 to swim, 1 sent the directors of the Arendal branch of the Norwegian 

 Fishery Association a report of my experiments^ with the request to 

 grant me the necessary funds for continuing and completing them. I 

 did not receive the desired grant, and the question must therefore still 

 be considered as partially unsolved. There is every probability, how- 

 ever, that the project is feasible; and the best and cheapest way to 

 promote the lobster fisheries will probably be to hatch large quantities 

 of young lobsters and place them in the open sea as soon as they are 

 able to swim, which point, 1 think, they reach during the first change 

 of skin. 



Hatcheries. — If we examine the reports of the inspector of fisheries 

 on the Norwegian fish-hatcheries, we find but little to encourage us. It 

 appears that prior to 1875, 142 hatcheries had been established in the 

 iinlaud districts, but that in 1875 only 33 were in operation, and that in 

 fl.874 only 17 were stocked with roe. 



From later reports it appears that during the period from 1875 to 1879 

 the statistics of the Norwegian hatcheries are as follows : 



IN NORWEGIAN HATCHERIES. 



IN THE SALMON STREAMS. 



i 1875-76 



1876-77 



1877-78 



I 1878-79 



Average 



20 

 21 

 13 

 17 



18 



1, 432, 500 



1, 058, 500 



816, 800 



887, 000 



1, 048, 700 



214, 900 



125, 7,00 

 1M, 400 



148, 333 



1,647,400 



1, 058, 500 



942, 5Q0 



991, 4Q0 



1,159,7(0,0 



^Briefly stated, then, the facts are that in Norway, in the course of the 

 Hast 25 years, about 200 hatcheries have been established; that during 

 itihe period from 1875 to 1879 there were on an average 58 in existence, 

 aiaad thatt of these 37, or a little more than one-half, produced young 

 ifisli. The .annual average number of young fish during the period re- 

 ^erred xu woial.d therefore be 30,600 :per hatchery. 



