CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 57 



rearing of lobsters were again undertaken by several gentlemen 

 at Stavanger, Norway/ both independently and with the aid of 

 the Eoyal Socieiy for furthering the Industries of Norway. Ac- 

 cording to the reports of Professors Easch and G. 0. Sars, they 

 were eminently successful; many young lobsters were carried to 

 the ambulatory or bottom-seeking stage, the necessity of which 

 was duly emphasized, and incidentally important facts on the 

 natural history of the lobster were brought to light. Again, what- 

 ever progress was made at the time, the work was not systematically 

 continued. 



In 1883 Saville Kent^ contributed a paper on "The Artificial 

 Culture of Lobsters," which later appeared in the proceedings of 

 the International Fisheries Exhibition at London for that year. 

 He contended that the chief cause of the decline in the lobster 

 fisheries was the destruction of the lobster eggs, and that it should 

 be combated by artificial propagation. As a result of experiments, 

 he strongly advised paying a bounty for the egg lobster, hatching 

 the eggs and rearing the young to the ambidatory stage before 

 liberation. 



Still later, in 1885, Captain Dannevig" also succeeded in hatch- 

 ing the eggs of the lobster and in rearing the young through the 

 first three earliest stages, at Flodevig, Norway. He did not con- 

 sider it of much service to hatch the eggs and to immediately set 

 free the young; and he rightly said that, so great was the destruc- 

 tion in nature from storms and other causes, 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 coun- 

 try, where the hatching 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 re- 

 ported by Mr. Eathbun.* 



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 con- 

 ditions. As we then remarked : " If we could save 100 instead of 



1 Rathbun, Eiehard (reported by): " The Fisheries and Fiahery Industries of the United 

 States," sect, v., Vol. II., pt. xxi., pp. 736-738. Washington, 1887. 



' Kent, W. Saville : " On the Artificial Culture of Lobsters," International Fisheries Ex- 

 hibition, London, 1883, pp. 1-24. London, 1883. 



' Raveret-Wattel : " L'Aquioulture Marine en Norvfege," Revue Sc. Nat. Appliqu^es, T. 

 37. Paris, 1890. 



< Rathbun, Richard : " Notes on Lobster Culture," Bulletin of the United States Fish 

 Commission, Vol. VI., p. 18. Washington, 1886. 



