68 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



on board the s.s. " John Fell." Dr. Bailey added a 

 pleasant feature to the vacation work by inviting all the 

 students to his residence to inspect his fine collection of 

 Manx beetles. In a most interesting and lucid address, 

 Dr. Bailey dealt with the problems afforded by the distri- 

 bution of certain of the species in the Isle of Man, Britain 

 and Ireland. 



Lobster fishing was carried on by my assistant during 

 July, August and September, with a view of obtaining 

 " berried " females for hatching purposes. The result 

 showed that during July and August "berried" females 

 are very scarce in localities where, in the winter and early 

 spring, they are not uncommon. In the first-named 

 month more males than females were caught ; but later 

 on the proportion of females increased, and towards the 

 end of August specimens with newly extruded eggs were 

 taken. 



The lobster eggs began to hatch out on July 24th, 

 and batches of larva? were collected and liberated in quiet 

 corners of the bay, or were placed in the hatching boxes 

 for rearing. The former course was adopted at first on 

 account of the large demands made upon my time by the 

 aquarium. More than half the total number hatched 

 were reared until they began to settle on the bottom of the 

 hatching boxes, and in a few cases, until they had passed 

 through all their larval stages. All the larva? fed 

 voraciously upon the finely minced liver of the edible 

 crab. A few females, with newly extruded eggs, are now 

 being brought in by local fishermen, and a number of both 

 sexes are being kept in a large tank in the hatchery in the 

 hope that they will breed therein. A lobster 7f inches 

 long cast its shell early in the morning of August 6th, 

 and was found to have grown exactly one inch when 

 measured two days later. 



