of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 65 
IIl._—A CONTRIBUTION TO THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE 
LOBSTER (HOMARUS VULGARIS). By H. Cuwas. 
Wiuuiamson, M.A., D.Sc., Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen. 
(Puatrs I.-IV.) 
CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Experiments in Lobster-Culture, . : : : 65 
The Rearing of Lobsters, . : : : : 68 
The Larval Stages, . 73 
History of the Adult Lobsters after the Eggs had Hatched, 87 
Proportion of Berried Hens in the Catch of ersten, 3 88 
The Casting of the Lobster, . : ; 89 
The Rate of Growth, : : 2 : 95 
The Behaviour of the Lobster, F : ‘ : 95 
Examination of the Ovary, . . : : : 98 
Spawning, . { : : : - : 100 
Hatching, . : : : : : : 103 
Literature, . ‘ : ; : F 104 
Description of Plates, : é : : : 106 
EXPERIMENTS IN LoBsTER-CULTURE. 
In the summer of 1902 the Fishery Board instructed me to carry out 
some experiments in the culture of lobsters and crabs. It was intended 
that the young lobsters hatched out at the Laboratory should be liberated 
on the north coast of Aberdeenshire, in the neighbourhood of Fraser- 
burgh. In order to obtain a supply of larvee a number of berried hen 
lobsters were procured from Girvan and Dunbar in June and July. 
Eight were sent from Girvan and ten from Dunbar ; one was captured in 
the Bay of Nigg. One of the Dunbar lobsters arrived on August 2nd. 
The lobsters were conveyed by rail, packed, in some cases, in straw, in 
other cases in dripping seaweed. The latter method was much the 
better, the lobsters, after their eight to twelve hours’ confinement, being 
unpacked i in a fresh and lively condition. Some of those packed in straw 
succumbed. In 1904 the stock of berried lobsters were all packed in wet 
seaweed, and none died in transit. 
No special apparatus, with the exception of two tin boxes, was made 
for the experiment. A temporary arrangement of the hatching apparatus 
(Dannevig’s), used for the eggs of the “plaice, proved successful on the 
whole. The eggs were already far advanced. 
An attempt was made to hatch the eggs detached from the parent 
lobster in one or two cases where the latter had died during transport to 
Aberdeen. A sheet-iron box, which fitted into one of the compartments 
of the hatching apparatus, and which was arranged with a perforated 
bottom through which the water entered, to escape by the top of the box 
through a erating, was employed ; but a considerable death-rate ensued, 
and the eggs were attacked by a fungus. None of the eggs hatched out. 
It was decided to allow the eggs to remain attached to the parent until 
they hatched. All that was necessary then was to keep the adults in a 
suitable tank and to make arrangements whereby the larve, as they 
hatched out, could be captured and removed to suitable boxes where they 
would be under control. 
