c 
REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
the fishery for a time in certain districts, but that is a matter which 
falls entirely within the jurisdiction of the States. 
Transplanting. — The two commoner species of lobster ( Homarus ) are 
limited in their distribution to the North Atlantic Ocean, one occurring 
on the European the other on the American side. - The American 
species ranges as far south as Delaware, but is most abundant on the 
coasts of New England and the British Provinces. Its north and south 
distribution is undoubtedly determined chiefly by temperature, and it 
would, therefore, seem impracticable to attempt its extension artifi- 
cially in those directions. On the Pacific coast, however, similar condi- 
tions are again repeated, although warmer waters are there carried 
farther north by currents, as on t-lie coast of Europe, producing a some- 
what milder and more equable climate in corresponding latitudes. 
That such a coincidence does exist on both sides of the continent is 
substantiated by the fact that both the cod and halibut inhabit the 
North Pacific, ranging south beyond Cape Flattery, and that other 
fishes and many marine invertebrates seem to be identical in the two 
oceans. From some cause, however, the lobster lias been excluded 
from the fauna of the Pacific coast, and its place has not been taken 
by any other species, but it does not seem possible that its absence is 
due to climate. The only locality in that region for which we have a 
continuous series of temperature observations of the sea water is San 
Francisco, where during the six years ending with 188G the range of 
temperature was only 10° F., or from 51° to 61° F. • At the mouth of 
Yineyard Sound, off Wood’s Holl, Mass., the range of ocean temperature 
during seven years was 37° F., or from 32° to 69° F. The temperature is, 
therefore, much more equable at San Francisco than on the southern 
coast of Massachusetts, corresponding for the entire year, with the con- 
ditions prevailing at the latter place between May 20 and the last of 
June and between the first of October and the middle of November. 
Both of these periods are favorable to the existence of lobsters on the 
inshore grounds, and the former is also the spawning season. So far as 
temperature is concerned, the Pacific coast appears to offer no obstacles 
to the introduction of lobsters even as far south as San Francisco, and 
probably Monterey, the next adjoining bay. The coast from here 
northward presents a succession of sandy and rocky shores, sufficiently 
rich in life to afford an abundance of nutritious food, and, if once suc- 
cessfully started, there is every reason to expect that they would thrive 
and multiply. 
The question of the introduction of lobsters in this region is not, how- 
ever, to be decided solely by the fact that the conditions are favorable 
to them. It is equally important to know if they are wanted by the 
inhabitants and if they would add a desirable feature to the food supply. 
This question was practically settled as early as 1873, when California 
took the initiative in attempting the first transplanting of lobsters 
across the continent, having, however, in that matter, the cooperation 
