ABALONES OF CALIFOENIA EDWARDS. 437 



In many places where the abalone was formerly abundant, the large 

 individuals of legal size are taken and it may be true, as in the case of 

 the American lobster, that in this manner the most prolific breeders 

 are sacrificed. We do not yet know anything about the breeding 

 habits and embryology of any species of the abalone, and hence are not 

 certain as to the best months for a closed season. In time, without 

 doubt, we shall be able to artificially propagate the abalone, as has 

 been done with the oysters, clams, lobsters, and other useful animals. 

 The Government breakwater at the mouth of Los Angeles Harbor, at 

 San Pedro, has become a natural breeding ground for black abalones, 

 which creep back under the great stone blocks and thus escape the 

 gatherers, who are stripping every accessible niche and cranny along 

 the coast at each low tide during the open season. 



Reservations have been established at Monterey Bay and Venice, 

 but the present laws are inadequate for their best development. By 

 act of the city trustees the Venice Breakwater has been made a bio- 

 logical reservation, under the control of the marine biological station 

 of the University of Southern California and guarded by a deputy 

 of the State fish and game commission. As an aquicultural experi- 

 ment I have placed colonies of several hundred black abalones and 

 75 of the green species upon the submerged rocks. A large concrete 

 live box has been suspended by a block-and-tackle hoisting apparatus 

 at about mid height of the tide. The open top is covered by heavy 

 galvanized-iron meshwork, while through several holes in the bottom 

 the dirt is cleaned out by the flow of the tide. The box is so heavy 

 that one may stand upon any part of it and do the necessary work in 

 feeding and observing the animals within. Forty abalones under 

 experimentation and for grow^th records are kept in the live box, and 

 a group of two or three times that number might easily be main- 

 tained in good condition. Near Venice the ocean is shallow, for it 

 is 3 miles out to the 16-fathom line. The trawling of our motor 

 sloop, the Anton Dohrn^ has demonstrated that in most places the 

 fauna of the sandy bottom is poor. Better results may be looked for 

 when reservations are located on the rocky coast, where great beds 

 of kelp thrive just within the deep-water line. The kelp is not only 

 important as food for abalones, but within its wide-spreading fronds 

 a world of living things thrive. In such a region the plankton is 

 richer and these microscopic plants and animals generate food for 

 the larger swimming and bottom-dwelling forms. 



The establishment of laws for the regulation of aquiculture and 

 the concomitant protection of marine and fresh-water organisms is of 

 primary importance. The formation of reservation districts for abso- 

 lute closure during successive periods of years, within which we may 

 have, every 5 or 10 miles, smaller perpetual biological reservations 

 for breeding centers, will solve the problems of preservation in a 

 better manner than the present laws for closed and open seasons. In 



