NATURAL HISTORY OK AMERICAN LOBSTER. 38 1 



young immediately; and he rightly said that so great was the destruction in nature 

 from storms and other causes that out of the 25,000 or 30,000 eggs which a lobster 

 might produce not a single one might reach its full development. 



This work gave the first impetus to lobster culture in this country, where the hatch- 

 ing of eggs was accomplished in the summer of the same year (1885) at the newly opened 

 laboratory of the United States Fish Commission at Woods Hole, Mass., as reported by 

 Doctor Rathbun (229). 



In 1894 we urged the importance of finding a means of rearing the young through 

 the free-swimming stages, and thereby reducing the terrible death rate which inevitably 

 occurs under natural conditions. As we then remarked, "If we could save 100 instead 

 of 2 out of every 10,000 hatched, every million young would produce 10,000 adults and 

 every billion would yield 10,000,000 lobsters capable of reproduction" (143). 



While results somewhat similar to those outlined above have been obtained in 

 England and in other parts of Europe, signal success in providing the young with a 

 proper food supply and in maintaining them in a healthy condition up to the lobsterling 

 stage has only been obtained in recent years in this country through the admirable 

 work of Messrs. Bumpus and Mead and their associates. These experiments were 

 begun under the auspices of the U. S. Fish Commission, at Woods Hole, Mass., in 1900, 

 and were continued at other points on the coast, and especially at Wickford, R. I., 

 where, under the direction of Professor Mead and of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries 

 of Rhode Island, the most efficient apparatus yet devised for the culture of lobsters has 

 been gradually perfected and installed. All who are interested in the problems of lob- 

 ster rearing should consult Professor Mead's original papers. (See, especially, 19S.) 



Given a water supply which has been found by experiment to offer favorable condi- 

 tions for the growth of lobster larvae, and a suitable food supply, such as minced clams, 

 beef, or "scrambled" eggs, the apparatus mechanically aerates the water and at the same 

 time holds both the lobsters and their food in suspension with little detriment to the 

 larvae themselves. 



At an early stage in his work Professor Mead found that in no case was the number 

 of lobsters reared to the fourth stage less ttaan 16 per cent of the total number of fry 

 placed in the brood chambers (scrim bags, or wooden boxes, as now in use). The ratio 

 of survival may even exceed 50 per cent. In 1901, between 9,000 and 10,000 lobsterlings 

 were thus reared at the Wickford station to the bottom-seeking stage; in 1908, between 

 300,000 and 400,000 fourth or fifth stage lobsters were reared and distributed on the 

 coast. 



The rate of survival of the young in the early ambulatory stage is not known, but 

 it is probably not less than i in several hundred, or a fraction of i per cent. 



Instead of striving to work on the vast scale of nature in dealing with the egg, this 

 is an attempt to improve upon nature by lowering the death rate in the most critical 

 period. Great care, however, is needed at every stage of the process, and especially at 

 the last, since the young do not seek the bottom at a uniform time. 



Had it been our attempt to destroy this animal, could we have acted more effectively 

 than by destroying its great egg-producing class ? When we attempt to rid this country 



