THE PROTECTION OF CKABS AND LOBSTERS. 183 



breeding season. That any attention should be paid to such arguments 

 as those brought forward by the Looe fishermen in favour of a close 

 time, namely, that the " nets belonging to the drift fishermen become 

 entangled with the floats, which mark the positions of the crab or 

 lobster pots," appears to me to be quite unjustifiable. 



The biological question is, in the case under consideration, consider- 

 ably complicated by the fact that the breeding seasons of the crab and 

 lobster are very different, as well as by the circumstance that both these 

 crustaceans periodically cast their shell, and remain for some time in a 

 soft state, when they are quite unfit for food. It is necessary for us 

 therefore to consider, in the first place, each of the animals inde- 

 pendently, and then, bearing in mind that both are caught at the same 

 time and in the same traps, and that in most cases to try to establish a 

 close-season for one and not for the other, would make the fishing 

 during that time quite unprofitable, we must endeavour to ascertain 

 whether, on the whole, one close-season could be justly enforced. 



With regard to the reproductive habits of the lobster, we have 

 considerable accurate information. In the last number of this Journal 

 I endeavoured to give a summary of the present state of knowledge on 

 the subject, from which it appeared that most lobsters laid their eggs in 

 August, and that most of these eggs were hatched in the following 

 June, being carried by the female for ten months. During July, the 

 number of females bearing eggs was not large, and of these some 

 carried eggs on the point of hatching, whilst others carried those which 

 had just been laid, the two seasons to some extent overlapping. The 

 evidence given by the fishermen at the different enquiries quite agreed 

 with this statement, for they maintained that they took berried hen 

 lobsters all the year round, and could point to no month in which they 

 were undoubtedly specially numerous. For the lobster alone, therefore, 

 it does not, under these circumstances, appear that any particular 

 period of the year could be legitimately recommended as a close time. 

 A more practical suggestion from the point of view of maintaining the 

 species is that there should be a perpetual close time for berried hens, 

 that is, that the taking of females carrying eggs should be entirely 

 prohibited ; and in one locality, at least, in the North Eastern District, 

 a fisherman was found who appeared to be strongly in favour of this 

 extreme step.* 



On the other hand, in certain districts it is maintained that such 

 a proceeding would practically close the fishery. Whether or not this 

 would be the case depends on the proportion which the number of 

 berried females bears to the whole catch. The data for determining 

 this proportion are not numerous. From Ehrenbaum's table,! it appears 



♦ 



Report, p. 100. t Reininted in this Journal, vol. iv. p. 64. 



KEW SERIE.S— VOL. IV. NO. '1. ^ 



