MARINE BIOLOGICAL STATION AT PORT ERIN. 



17 



of the supply of mussels for food, and the number of fish 

 available at the beginning of the hatching season is not exactly 

 known. 



"The first fertilised eggs, about 5,000 in number, were 

 placed in the hatching boxes on February 26th, and the last 

 on May 9th. The ponds were skimmed on 32 days. The 

 numbers of eggs were comparatively small throughout the 

 season, exceeding 100,000 on 11 days only. The total number 

 of fertilised eojgs obtained was 2,949,000 and of larvae set free 



CO 7 7 



2,428,450. The cold and inclement weather of February and 

 March, and the loss of spawners above alluded to were probably 

 causes of the reduced numbers of eggs. It is possible, too, that 

 reduced fecundity of the fish of the old stock may have con- 

 tributed. 



" The Hatchery Record, giving the number of eggs collected 

 and of larvae set free on the various days, is as follows : — 



Eggs collected. 



Date. 



Larvae set free. 



Date. 



59,850 .. 



Feb. 26 to March 3 53,650 . 



. March 24 



210,000 .. 



March 5 to 15 



118,650 . 



. April 1 



157,500 .. 



„ 17 to 24 



140,700 . 



• „ 7 



72,000 .. 



„ 26 



65,700 . 



.. „ 12 



287,700 .. 



,, 31 and April 



1 260,100 . 



.. „ 17 



226,800 ... 



April 2 and 3 



211,450 . 



• „ 21 



535,500 .. 



4 to 7 



453,600 . 



.. „ 24 



312,900 .. 



8 toll 



271,950 . 



.. „ 30 



268,800 .. 



„ 12 and 14 



236,250 . 



.. May 2 



415,800 .. 



17 and 19 



319,200 . 



.. „ 5 



273,000 .. 



„ 21 to 25 



216,300 . 



.. „ 8 



129,150 ... 



30 to May 9 

 :al eggs. 



80,800 .. 



. „ 15 



2,949,000 To1 



2,428,350 Total larvae. 



Lobster Culture. 



" The supply of berried female lobsters with nearly ripe 

 eggs during the past season was again disappointing, only 

 fifteen being brought in, against 27 obtained during the corres- 

 ponding period in 1918. These yielded a total of 9,702 larvae, 



