22 



TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



" berried " lobsters with the eggs nearly ripe has been so 

 great this }'ear that no lobster culture worthy of note 

 could be undertaken. Our experience, confirmed by that 

 of Mr. Scott, at Piel, and the scientific staff of the Scottish 

 Fishery Board at Aberdeen, is that confinement in tanks 

 causes the lobsters to shed their eggs, and that from nearly 

 ripe eggs only can the culturist hope for success. Our 

 local fishermen practicalh' cease fishing during the 

 summer months, and an attempt to import berried females 

 from the Welsh coast was a complete failure. Two were 

 obtained locally, and for several weeks during August and 

 the early part of September young larva? in various stages 

 of development attracted a large amount of attention on 

 the part of the visitors to the Aquarium. 



As was the case during the hatching season of 1904, 

 our spawning-pond proved a death trap to myriads of 

 insects, especially Diptera and Coleoptera, which seriously 

 hampered the work of egg collecting. Over 30 species of 

 Coleoptera were identified by Dr. Harold Bailey, of Port 

 Erin, who has kindly supplied the following list : — 



Coleoptera erom Sure ace oe Spawning Pond, 

 April, 1905. 



Car abides. 



Notiophilus substriatus, 

 Wat. 



Calatlms melanocephalus, 

 L. 

 Loricera pUicornis, F. 



Hydropiiilid.e. 



Helophorw aquaticus, L. 



,, brevipalpis. 



Bedel. 



( 'ercion melanocephalus, 

 L. 



Cercion unipunctatus, L. 



,, littoralis, Gyll. 



,, hosmorrhoidalis, 

 F. 



Staph ylinidje. 



Ocypus inorio, Gr. 



Tachinus svibterranew, L. 



,, rufipes, De G. 



PhUonthu8 politu s, F. 



Oxytelus rugosus F. 



,, tetracarinatu8, 

 Block. 



