1916] AUcn: Spiinj Lobster of llie California Coast 149 



the ignorance of the English language on the part of many foreign 

 fishermen. I have been told of fishermen who caught tagged spiny 

 lobsters and failed to report them. This was especially true in the 

 vicinity of Santa Barbara. 



Taking the figures as we have them, of 334 spiny lobsters that 

 were tagged, twenty-seven were caught and recorded. This is 8 per 

 cent of the whole. The experiment, roughly speaking, was carried 

 on for a period of 100 days, or two-thirds of the lawful fishing season. 

 Since the great bulk of the season's catch is made during the first 

 month or two of the season, it is fair to say that had the experiment 

 run through the entire extent of the fishing season, fully twice as 

 many tagged spiny lobsters would have been caught as our figures 

 show. They were tagged at points so chosen as to give a fair indi- 

 cation of the average intensity of fishing operations. We would thus 

 be justified in asserting that the yearly catch probably amounts to 

 at least 16 per cent of the total number of spiny lobsters in the 

 localities where fishing operations are carried on. There are so many 

 otlier factors involved that the estimate should be accepted only 

 tentatively. 



If the spiny lobster is just able to hold its own against its natural 

 enemies this additional destruction due to fishing operations might 

 suffice to bring about extinction if carried on long enough. If the 

 rise of price entailed by increasing scarcity should tempt fishermen 

 to redouble their efforts there would be a dangerous acceleration of 

 the process of extinction. This should be watched from j'ear to year. 

 Of course, the size of the catch each year would serve as a rough index 

 of the abundance ; but estimates so formed would not be reliable 

 because they would not show how far this decreased catch might be 

 due to the number of fishermen employed, the number of traps 

 operated, or the efficiency of the fishermen engaged. These are all 

 extremely variable factors. 



Within certain limits it should be possible to make a fairly ac- 

 curate spiny lobster census of the entire coast line from Point Con- 

 ception to San Diego by these tagging experiments. The expense of 

 such work should be comparatively slight. 



REPRODUCTION 

 The very small coral-red eggs are produced in greatest numbers 

 near the first of May, although some scattering individuals spawn 

 as early as March 1. The maximum number of spawn-bearing females 



