78 



to which the gain or loss at the respective stations may be expressed. 

 Only those stations have been utihsed at which statistics have 

 been completely obtained during the fifteen years. 



In the following table the averages are expressed as gain or 

 loss per cent, as compared with the first period of 1899-1903, and 

 the results are represented graphically in the accompanying chart. 



It will be seen that from Berwick to Sunderland there has been 

 an increase over the stock of the first five-year period, from Hartle- 

 pool to Scarborough a decrease, and again an increase at Filey. 

 This is not exactly what was expected. What one would naturally 

 expect would be a gradual increase from north to south in North- 

 umberland, succeeded by a gradual decrease in the North-Eastern 

 district. The drift of the larvae therefore is not so great as theoret- 

 ically it ought to be, or there is a general migration northwards at 

 some period or periods of the lobster's fife. The latter assumption 

 receives support from the fact that Berwick and Holy Island share 

 in the increase, and that the southern stations as a whole do not 

 present a greater gain, except Sunderland, which port, for whatever 

 reason, has increased more than any other, and is only approached 

 in this respect by Beadnell. On the other hand, it may be conceded 

 that the larvae in the neighbourhood of the coast will tend to sink 

 into mid-water, and even towards the bottom, and thus may not 

 drift southwards during the period of their pelagic existence as 

 far as calculation of current would show. 



