REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. XCVII 
The Lobster ( Homarus americanus). 
Development and propagation . — In u Tlie Fisheries and Fishery Indus- 
tries of the United States,” Sections I and V, the condition of the lob- 
ster fishery was discussed upon the basis of the information obtained 
as late as 18S2. It was there shown that a considerable decrease had 
taken place in the abundance of the American species, the supply in 
some places having so greatly diminished as to practically destroy the 
local industry. Since that period the evidence at hand indicates that 
this decrease is still continuing, in spite of the somewhat rigid laws 
which have been j)assed by the New England States and New York. 
The same trouble has been experienced in Europe, and in both countries 
the problem of how to protect the grounds and restore their prosperity 
has been fruitful of discussion and experiment. Among crustaceans 
the eggs, as they are emitted, become attached to external appendages 
of the bod 3 r , where they remain until the hatching takes place. In the 
artificial propagation of the lobster it has, therefore, generally been 
considered necessary to confine the parent with its eggs until the ap- 
pearance of its progeny. The difficulties in the way of such an under- 
taking may readily be conjectured. The imprisonment, care, and feed- 
ing of a sufficient number to afford appreciable results would involve 
an expense wholly out of proportion to any good that might be accom- 
plished. Several private parks for experimental work in that direction 
have been established from time to time, but they were soon abandoned. 
Early in the summer of 1885, the Norwegian fish-culturist, G. M. 
Dannevig, announced the successful hatching of lobster eggs that had 
previously been removed from the parent. The new laboratory at 
Wood's Holl, with its perfect system of running water, had just been 
completed, and it was determined to undertake at once similar experi- 
ments with respect to the American species, notwithstanding the 
hatching season had already terminated. The trials were begun 
by the writer and were continued by him and by Oapt. H. 0. Chester 
until about December. The results have been fully discussed in the 
Bulletin of the U. 8. Fish Commission for 1886, pp. 17-32. Only a very 
small number of embryos, about 50, were produced during this period, 
indicating that it is not expedient to conduct the work outside of the 
natural breeding season, but much valuable experience was acquired 
respecting the manner of obtaining and caring for the eggs. Lobsters 
with eggs attached to the swim merets are found during the entire year, 
but the hatching season is confined to about two months, beginning, in 
the Vineyard Sound region, early in May and continuing into July. 
At whatever season the eggs may be extruded they develop slowly 
until that period, and, with our present knowledge of the subject it is 
not advisable to collect them at other times. As they pass from the 
body of the female they are coated with a viscid substance that soon 
hardens into short, tough, and flexible threads, by means of which they 
are attached in clusters of variable sizes to the swimmeretsor leaf-like 
II. Mis. 274 yii 
