342 



lobsters, involving the employment of bulky apparatus, 

 great expense, and many failures before even a small 

 amount of success was obtained* If, in place of this, 

 recourse had been had to young fry that had arrived at 

 the ambulatory state, and were just ready to transfer to the 

 sea, thousands might have been successfully transported in 

 less space and at less cost. Better results still would, 

 probably, have been arrived at if the eggs only, detached 

 from the females, had been carried across to the Pacific 

 coast, and a hatchery for their development and the rear- 

 ing of the fry been established contiguous to the shore on 

 which it was proposed to set them free. 



Although practical attention has not hitherto been 

 directed to the artificial culture of lobsters from the egg on 

 the system here advocated, experiments have been made 

 both in this country and in France and Norway to establish 

 parks and enclosures for the cultivation or storage of the 

 adult animals. In all these cases, however, so far reported, 

 the results obtained have not been encouraging, the outlay 

 required to keep up the supply of food leaving no margin 

 for profits. It is still, nevertheless, an open question 

 whether or not in certain favourable situations where a food 

 supply could be obtained at a minimum cost, the culture of 

 adult lobsters might not be developed into a remunerative 

 financial enterprise. It may be remarked in this connec- 

 tion that fish condemned as unfit for human food is, to the 

 average amount of one ton per day, sent away for destruction 



* According to the latest Report, p. 10 of the Descriptive Catalogue 

 of Economic Crustacea, &c., of the United States, in the Great Inter- 

 national Fisheries Exhibition, London, 1883, the attempts made to 

 transport lobsters to the Californian coast have been entirely unsuc- 

 cessful. Such failure may probably be attributed to the small number 

 of individuals that ultimately survived and were distributed at their 

 port of destination. 



