35 



II. The Lobster Tank. 



" The first object ought to be to see whether full grown 

 lobsters will live healthily in the tank. That is being 

 ascertained at present. Several lobsters are now in the 

 tank and are being watched and fed. 



" The second point is to determine whether adult lobsters 

 will breed in the pond, and whether the females " in 

 berry" will not only live but will manage to keep their 

 developing embryos alive up to the period of hatching, in 

 captivity. 



" When all that has been ascertained by experiment, I 

 should recommend that a further very important step be 

 taken, and that we try to secure and rear the young 

 lobsters hatched out from the eggs of the adult females. 

 That I think can be done by placing the parent lobster 

 for a few days at the time when the young are hatching 

 out in wire gauze cages from which the young can be 

 removed and transferred to tanks in the Piel laboratory. 

 Further experiments will then have to be tried as to the 

 conditions of water and feeding under which these young 

 lobsters can be kept healthy and reared in captivity. 



III. The Branch Laboratory at Piel. 

 " It seems to me that the most useful purposes to which 

 this work room can be put are — 



(1) to enable Mr. Scott and the Baihffs to examine in 



the fresh condition the samples of mussels and 

 other shellfish taken from the neighbouring beds. 



(2) The tanks under cover in the Laboratory should be 



used for rearing the young lobsters when these 

 have been hatched out in the lobster pond on the 

 shore. 



(3) The Piel laboratory would be suitable for trying 



the effect upon living shellfish — oysters, mussels. 



