MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 45 
Lobster Culture. 
“When, at the close of the plaice hatching season, the 
spawning ponds were drained and cleaned, a total number 
of 46 lobsters, all purchased during the season of 1914, were 
found therein. Twenty-six of them were in the lobster pond, 
the remaining 20 having escaped thence into the larger plaice 
pond during the plaice hatching season. Of the 26 found 
in the lobster pond 3 were males and 23 females. Hight 
of the latter bore eggs in an unripe and faulty condition; 13 
had borne eggs but were practically stripped, and the remaining 
2 showed no trace of eggs. The 8 which bore egos were returned 
to the lobster pond; and to them were added on various 
dates from June 19th to August 5th thirteen berried lobsters 
bearing nearly ripe eggs, all purchased from local fishermen, 
making a total of 21. Larvae appeared in small numbers 
in the pond early in June, and the first lobsterlings were 
set free on June 24th, a date earlier than in any previous 
year. The total number of larvae taken from the pond during 
the season was 17,490. Of these, 9,800 were set free in the 
first stage. The Assistant Curator undertook the larger 
share of the work of rearing the larvae which were placed 
in the hatching boxes for that purpose; and of 4,235 larvae 
of which he had charge, 193 reached the lobsterling stage. 
The Curator took charge of 3,455 larvae and reared 37 lobster- 
lings. Mr. Cregeen fed his larvae upon minced liver of the 
edible and shore crabs, supplemented almost daily with living 
plankton taken with a coarse tow-net. The Curator fed 
his larvae upon the finely-minced posterior adductor muscle 
of the edible mussel (Mytilus edulis), of which they partook 
freely, but which, judging from the smaller percentage of 
larvae reared, is probably less nutritious than plankton. 
