228 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 13, 1887. 



Black Bass for Stocking.— Camden, Carroll County, 

 Ind., Oct. 5. — Editor Forest and Stream: My memory is 

 singularly defective, or else it is unusual to find black 

 bass full of spawn at this season of the year. Is it my 

 memory? My last catch found all the female fish with 

 spawn. Is there an established price for black bass for 

 stocking purposes? Parties desiring some can receive in- 

 formation from me on how to get them and where. I 

 ask nothing.— John P. Hance. 



Address all communieatioiis to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co 



LOBSTER CULTURE. 



MR, RICHARD RATHBUN, Curator of the Department 

 of the Invertebrates of the National Museum, contrib- 

 utes the following to the Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission: 



The partial completion in August last of the new labor- 

 atory building at the marine station of the Fish Commission 

 at Wood's Holl, Mass., with its convenient system of salt- 

 water piping, permitted the necessary experiments being 

 begun at that time with respect to the artificial hatching of 

 lobsters, a branch of fishculture the great importance of 

 which has long been felt, in view of the rapid decrease in 

 abundance of that valuable food product. Unfortunately 

 the hatching season had then closed, but it was deemed 

 advisable to ascert ain the best methods of handling the eggs, 

 iu order that there might be as little delay as possible in 

 starting operations next spring. 



Unlike most lishes, the lobster carries its eggs until they 

 hatch. The eggs are fertilized while yet in the ovaries, and 

 are soon afterward extruded, but the length of the period of 

 development is not known. As they issue from the body of 

 the female they are coated with a viscid substance that soon 

 hardens into short, tough and very flexible threads, by 

 means of which they are attached in bunches or clusters of 

 variable sizes to the swimmerets and under surface of the 

 abdomen or tail, the hinder feet, it is said, being used to aid 

 in carrying them back and distributing them as they come 

 from the apertures of the oviducts. The eggs are compara- 

 tively large (about one-twelfth of an inch m diameter) and 

 hardy, and each lobster carries from about 12,000 to 24,000, 

 according to its size. 



The problem of lobster hatching on a practical scale is one 

 that the Fish Commission has long had in view, but all of its 

 marine laboratories up to the present time have been tem- 

 porary structures, with insufficient accommodations and 

 without the means of obtaining continuous' supplies of water 

 in suitable quantities. It was hoped that the new building 

 would be finished early enough in the spring to permit of 

 the beginning of hatching work in June, but the hinderances 

 which are inevitable to all such projects interfered to delay 

 actual operations for another year. The hatching of small 

 quantities of lobster eggs, as well as the eggs of other species 

 of crustaceans, had been successfully accomplished from 

 time to time by members of the Fish Commission party inter- 

 ested in embryol ogical studies, and the possibility of con- 

 ducting hatching operations on a small scale, and of carry- 

 ing the young through at least the first few stages of growth, 

 needed no further proof; but the question of how to care for 

 large masses of eggs, and especially for the young after 

 hatching, was yet to be approached. 



In the fall of 1884, soon after the inner fish basin at Wood's 

 Holl had been completed, Capt. H. C. Chester, in charge of 

 the station, transferred to it several hundred female lobsters, 

 with spawn, thinking that some of the eggs might hatch 

 during the winter, but if not, feeling certain that something 

 might be done with them in the early spring. Unfortunate- 

 ly for his experiment, the work on the outer basin necessi- 

 tating the employment of a large s+eam dredger, which kept 

 the water constantly loaded with sediment, and the frequent 

 blasting of rocks, caused the destruction of his entire stock 

 before any results had been reach ed. The method of continu- 

 ing the work in the summer had not yet been decided upon, 

 when an opportune letter, received from the Norwegian fish- 

 culturist, G. M. Dannevig. announced the successful hatch- 

 ing of lobster eggs of the European species, detached from 

 the body of the parent, and the rearing of the young through 

 the three earliest stages. The manner of conducting his ex- 

 periments was not described, but the fact that he had ac- 

 complished good results with detached eggs gave us a basis 

 to work upon. His letter was as follows: 



Flodevig, near Arendal, Norway, July 14, 1885. 

 Prof, Svencer F. Baird, Commissioner of Fish and Fish- 



Dear Sir— I hereby take great pleasure in informing you 

 that the experiments with the hatching of detached lobster 

 eggs is progressing very favorably, that the young are doing 

 well, and that some of them have attained what Prof.. 6. O. 

 Sars calls the third stage. The length of the young lobster 

 soon after hatching is about 9mm. After eight days, when 

 the second changing of the shell or skin takes place, it has 

 attained the length of 12mm., and after sixteen days, when 

 the third change occurs, it is about 15mm. The mortality 

 was rather large for some days, but is now only one to three 

 in twenty-four hours, so that ninety-five still remain out of 

 two hundred which were picked out for an experiment. 

 They are verv greedy, but not so bad in killing one another 

 as they were "in the beginning. I feed them principally with 

 the soft parts of our crab. They like it well, but their 

 slender legs sometimes get entangled in the soft mass, and 

 then they die. Five hundred newly-hatched individuals are 

 now in a separate apparatus for further experiments. I 

 wish to find out at what stage the greateet loss takes place. 

 I have great hopes now that I shall master this question 

 during the season, so that I can proceed upon a large scale 

 next summer. Very respectfully, G-. M. Dannevig. 



If a few eggs are cut from the swimmerets of a lobster and 

 dropped into a jar of water they will rapidly sink to the 

 bottom, showing that their specific gravity is considerably 

 greater than that of water. The knowledge of this fact led 

 to the selection of the McDonald automatic hatching Jar, 

 which has long been in use in shad propagation for the first 

 experiments, and a trial of about two months has demon- 

 strated its superiority for this purpose over the other appli- 

 ances that were tested. The principle on which the Mc- 

 Donald jar works has been fully described and we need only 

 mention here, for the purpose of showing its adaptability to 

 the eggs in question, that the water entering through a long 

 glass tube, reaching nearly to the bottom of the jar, causes 

 an upward current of water through the jar, the force of 

 which is regulated by the amount of inflow; the outlet is by 

 means of a short tube passing only a little way into the 

 upper part of the jar. The inlet tube is connected by rubber 

 tubing with a supply pipe, and the outlet tube in the same 

 manner with a waste pipe, and these connections being 

 made the movement of the eggs is entirely controlled by 

 means of a stop-cock and the longer tube, the latter by being 

 raised or lowered changing to a certain extent the force and 

 character of the current. The flow is continuous and regu- 

 lar and the jars need to be examined only occasionally, per- 

 haps twice each day for the purpose of forcing out the accu- 

 mulation of sediment as explained further on. 



The eggs are readily cut from the swimmerets and under 

 surface of the lobster by means of small, sharp scissors, the 

 curved kind used iu dissecting being especially well adapted 



to this purpose, although most any kind will answer. By 

 taking ordinary precautions no harm is done to the parent, 

 the small threads joining the eggs to the body having no 

 organic connection with it. Most of the eggs come off in 

 bunches of variable sizes, some containing two or three hun- 

 dred, and others less, down to a very small number; but 

 more or less of them become separated in the cutting, and in 

 every bath there are many free eggs. This lack of uniform- 

 ity in the composition of each lot of eggs is a source of great 

 annoyance in handling them, the free eggs floating up more 

 readily than the bunches, and tending to escape through the 

 outlet pipe; but it is not detrimental to the success of the 

 work. In preparing the eggs, they were transferred as rap- 

 idly as detatched to the hatching jars, previously filled with 

 water, the eggs of each lobster being placed in a separate 

 jar, as there is more or less variation in the specific gravity 

 of the eggs of different individuals. 



As soon as each jar had received its allotment, the cap 

 with its tubes was fastened on, and a connection made with 

 the salt water supply pipe. The specific gravity of the eggs 

 was not determined, but they require a relatively strong cur- 

 rent of water to raise them above the bottom, the average 

 amount allowed to pass through the jars having been nearly 

 a gallon a minute for each. The flow was so regulated as to 

 give the larger bunches of eggs a gentle rotary motion, but 

 this caused the smaller bunches and the free eggs to rise 

 sometimes to more than half the height of the jar, and kept 

 them quite strongly agitated. Although the eggs are very 

 very hardy, and in nature, while attached to the swimmerets 

 of the parent lobster, are given but little motion, this greater 

 activity appears to be essential to their well-being in this 

 artificial hatching apparatus, for without it they soon die. 

 Such fate befell most of one lot contained in a McDonald 

 jaj-, through which but a gentle current was allowed to pass, 

 and in one of the hatching boxes, where the supply of water 

 was very much greater, though distributed over a much 

 larger surface, so that no motion was given to the eggs, they 

 all died inside of a week. The accumulation about the eggs 

 of impurities from the water may have been the principal 

 cause of this mortality, but as the eggs are well able to en- 

 dure active motion, and thrive best in a strong current, there 

 can be no objection to pursuing that method. An illustra- 

 tion of the hardy character of the eggs is furnished by the 

 fact that a small quantity left over night in a watch glass of 

 sea water were alive and apparently in good condition in the 

 morning, although the density of the water had been greatly 

 increased by evaporation. 



The chief annoyances to hatching work at the Wood's 

 Holl station this summer were, first, iron rust, and second, 

 sediment from the harbor. The supply mains in use when 

 the laboratory was first opened consisted of iron pipes with- 

 out a protective lining. They had been down a year, and 

 gave off such a large quantity of rust, which often appeared 

 as a dense reddish cloud of exceedingly fine suspended parti- 

 cles, that the hatching jars would become strongly stained 

 insi.de of a few hours, and the. eggs themselves become per- 

 ceptibly coated. After the cement-lined pipes had been sub- 

 stituted, this trouble ceased for the most part, but a great 

 deal of sediment was observed in the sea water the remainder 

 of the season, and notwithstanding the strong current pass- 

 ing constantly through the jars, a very perceptible deposit 

 was formed over the lower-lying eggs in the course of every 

 twelve hours. The lighter particles of sediment also collected 

 to a large extent on the sides of the jars and tubing, and 

 often adhered to the more buoyant eggs. Cloth filters were 

 used to strain out these impurities, but they proved unsatis 

 factory, and the course finally pursued was to force out the 

 sediment every morning and evening by momentarily in- 

 creasing the flow of water to its utmost capacity and then 

 shutting it off, repeating this operation at intervals for 

 several minutes. The effect was thoroughly to stir up the 

 sediment, which, being lighter than the eggs, remained 

 longer in suspension, and was carried off when the flow was 

 again made normal. The eggs were transferred to clean 

 jars every four or five days, and the old jars thoroughly 

 washed. 



By constant attention to all these details, the eggs were 

 kept in a healthy and tolerably clean condition as long as the 

 experiments were kept up. A neglect of these precautions 

 always resulted in the destruction of many eggs, although 

 in the first lot of eggs prepared, which suffered greatly from 

 iron rust, and was frequently lef ft without care, sometimes 

 for days at a time, until they were well covered with sedi- 

 ment/fully one-third were living at the end of eight weeks, 

 when I left the Wood's Holl station. 



It does not seem practicable to keep the eggs of more than 

 one lobster in each jar, as the eggs of different individuals 

 differ more or less in specific gravity, and it is impossible to 

 regulate the flow of water so as to give them all the required 

 motion; but as the number is considerable in each, there is 

 not sufficient excuse for attempting economy in that direc- 

 tion. The number of fertilized eggs carried by lobsters dur- 

 ing the spawning season has been ascertained by careful 

 computations in several cases, and varies from about 12,000 

 to 24,000, the latter number being rare. The most common 

 number noticed during late years has been from 15,000 to 

 18,000. 



The question of the amount of motion to which the eggs 

 should be subjected is one deserving much consideration. 

 The females with eggs contained in the aquaria at Wood's 

 Holl remained very quiet most of the time, and the swim- 

 merets and eggs were scarcely ever observed to be in motion. 

 Confined within the narrow limits of an aquarium, with a 

 strong light entering from all sides, it was not to be ex- 

 pected that their movements would be altogether natural. 

 In nature, whether or not their svimmerets are kept moving 

 regularly backward and forward, which is probably the case 

 to a greater or less extent, the act of moving about in search 

 of food or for change of ground must bring constant change 

 of water. With the Clark hatching boxes, which are very 

 successful for certain kinds of fish eggs, no good results were 

 obtained, although the flow of water was much greater than 

 in the McDonakfjars. These boxes were tried iu two ways, 

 with a downward and an upward flow of water, but the 

 eggs remained perfectly motionless, and at the end of a 

 week were in such bad condition that they had to be thrown 

 away. 



The experiments above described merely indicate a method 

 by which lobster eggs detached from the parent may be 

 successfully kept alive for a considerable length of time 

 with sufficient economy to commend the process to future 

 practice. Had the experiments been made during the hatch- 

 ing season, more satisfactory results would undoubtedly 

 have been reached. It is not expected that in actual prac- 

 tice the eggs will have to be kept very long in the jars. The 

 extensive storage basins in front of the laboratory will afford 

 accommodations for large quantities of ''berried" females, 

 which can be so arranged as to permit of their being readily 

 examined from time to time, and the condition of the eggs 

 observed. As the eggs approach the last stages of develop- 

 ment before hatching— a condition that is easily determin d 

 almost by the unaided eye — they can be transferred to the 

 hatching jars, and the final changes allowed to take place 

 under constant observation. As the hatching is limited to 

 a period of about two months, it is probable that the eggs 

 of many individuals reach maturity at about the same time, 

 and a large number of jars can be manipulated together. 



The principal object in hatching the eggs in jars is to have 

 the embryos under control immediately after hatching, but 

 the best methods of caring for the young have yet to be de- 

 cided upon, and furnish an interesting problem for inves- 

 tigation next spring. It is probable tha* the embryos can- 

 not be kept in the McDonald jar, as they swim at the surface 

 and would soon all escape through the outlet tube, They 



can, however, be transferred to large aquaria, to the large 

 wooden tanks now rigged on the lower floor for the keeping 

 of fish, or to floating cars in one of the basins. The last 

 plan will probably answer best when working on a large 

 scale, as the embryos will thereby obtain some food from the 

 surrounding waters, while in both of the former cases food 

 would have to be supplied them. 



A floating car suitaole for the purpose has already been 

 constructed and now contains a number of "berried" lob- 

 sters, which it is proposed to keep over winter if possible, in 

 order to observe whether any hatching takes place during 

 that season. This car is constructed on the plan of the 

 ordinary fish cars, the openings being covered with a fine 

 mesh brass-wire cloth to prevent the escape of the young, 

 but with meshes large enough to permit of the entrance of 

 such small life as the embryos would be likely to feed upon 

 at the surface. The dimensions of this car are 5ft. long, 3ft, 

 wide and 2ft. deep, but larger cars will be used if necessary. 

 It is now moored in the outer basin, opposite one of the 

 openings of the wall, where it receives the full force of the 

 current. A few McDonald jars will also be kept in opera- 

 tion with lobster eggs during the entire winter, for pur- 

 poses of observation. 



It is not known how long the young can be kept in con- 

 finement, nor at what age it would be advisable to turn 

 them over to the care of nature, but it will probably be pos- 

 sible to transport them alive to any other portion of the 

 eastern coast, as the distances are nowhere great. 



THE NEW YORK SHELLFISH COMMISSION.— At a 

 recent meeting of the board of shellfish commissioners Hon. 

 E. P. Doyle was appointed clerk of the board. The commis- 

 sioners are meeting in New York city on the first of every 

 month, and are arranging to lease a portion of the oyster 

 territory before the year closes. 



FIXTURES. 



DOG SHOWS. 



Oct. 12 and 13.— Third Annual Show of the Stafford Kennel Club, 

 Stafford Springs, Conn. It. S. Hicks, Secretary. 



Dec. 6 to 8.— Third Annual Dog Show of the Central Berkshire 

 Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association. W. T. Webster, Sec- 

 retary, Lee, Mass. 



Feb. 21 to 24, 1888.— Twelfth Annual Show of the Westminster Ken- 

 nel Club, Madison Square Garden, New York. James Mortimer, 

 Superintendent. 



FIELD TRIALS. 



Oct. 17 to 22.— Second Annual Meeting of the American Coursing 

 Club, at Great Bend, Kan. G. I. JRoyee, Secretary, Topeka, Kan. 



Nov. 7.— First Annual Field Trials of the Indiana Kennel Club 

 at Bickncl, Ind. Open to dogs owned in Indiana. P. T. Madison, 

 Secretary, Lock Box i, Indianapolis, Ind. Entries close Oct. 25. 



Nov. 7.— Third Annual Field Trials of the Western Field Trials 

 Association. R. C. Van Horn, Secretary, Kansas City, Mo. 



Nov. 21.— Ninth Annual Field Trials of the Eastern Field Trials 

 Club, at High Point N. C. W. A. Coster, Secretary, Flatbush, 



K DwenSer?—FhPsT* Annual Field Trials of the American Field 

 Trials Club, at Florenoe, Ala. C. W. Paris, Secretary, Cincinnati, 



Jan. 10, 1888.— Second Annual Field Trials of the. Texas Field 

 Trials Club, at Marshall, Tex. W. L. Thomas, Secretary, Mar- 

 shall Tex. 



Jan. 16.— Fifth Annual Field Trials of the Pacific Coast Field 

 Trial Club, near Kingsburgh, Oal. N. P. Sheldeu, Secretary, 320 

 Sansome street, San Francisco, Cal. 



A. K. R.-SPECIAL NOTICE. 



THE AMERICAN KENNEL REGISTER, for the registration 

 of pedigrees, etc. (with prize lists of all shows and trials), is 

 published every month. Entries close on the 1st. Should bo in 

 early. Entry blanks eent on receipt of stamped and addressed 

 envelope. Registration fee (50 cents) must accompany each entry. 

 No entries inserted unless paid in advance. Yearly subscription 

 $1.50. Address "American Kennel Register," P. O. Box 2832, New 

 fork. Number of entries already printed 5400. 



MASTIFF TYPE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Although "X." desires to avoid controversy with either Mr. 

 Wynn or me, I must ask him to prove some of the things he 



forming a right angle with upper part c 

 hocks," yet Crown Prince, all the "lady" lot of Dr. Turner's 

 bitches, Ilford Caution, Rosalind, etc, have or had under- 

 shot muzzles and straight hocks ! This must be a Pick wick- 

 ian ideal. What is the present method of breeding \ Is it 

 that which drove Mr. Hanbury, Rev. Mellor and Col. Gamier 

 out of the O. E. Mastiff Club ? Listen to what the oldest 

 living mastiff breeder says: "I do not wish to be identified 

 with those who go in for the bulldog, goggle-eyed type, with 

 straight stifles, narrow chests, hollow backs, and who require 

 keepers to lift them on a two-foot show bench. We have 

 very few real mastiffs now; thev seem to have lost all intelli- 

 gence and sagacity, and are fit for nothing but eating and 

 sleeping." 



"X.'s" "well-known judge" showed his incapacity in the 

 most marked manner, if we are to understand from "X." 

 that this judge gave Ilford Caution any place whatever, first 

 or last, from a consideration of what his stud value might 

 be. A judge passes on a dog as a specimen, pure and simple, 

 and allowing such considerations as his probable value in 

 the stud to enter into consideration, is simply swindling the 

 exhibitors. A show is not one of stud dogs, but of speci- 

 mens. If my "violent prejudice" against Ilford Caution 

 was what impelled Mr. Moore to import that almost perfect 

 specimen, Minting (I lack the conceit to hope that it was), 

 then American mastiff interests owe me more for this than 

 for all else I ever did, or may be likely to do. 



"X." forgets that underneath all discussions as to mastiff 

 type, lies the question of what this type is. What the stand- 

 ard of the O. E. Mastiff Club says, suits me well enough, 

 and if judges would only honestly interpret it, there would 

 be no cause of complaint, but to set down in black and white 

 that such and such characteristics are requisite in a perfect 

 mastiff, and then deliberately ignore them because a few 

 followers of fashion, trying to lead it, have exalted snub 

 noses above everything else, is something that does not go 

 down well with the man of average common sense. 



If fanciers will only openly admit that fashion is their 



us that trie direct contraaicuou oi ineir own bu»uusu*j « < 

 real thing," "the correct type," etc., it is time to rebel. 

 Would "X." undertake to establish by any number of shows, 

 judges, etc., what is "the correct type" in bustles? 

 J e W. Wade. 



Hulton, Pa., Oct. 8. 



WESTERN EIELD TRIALS. — Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 9. 

 —Editor Forest and Stream: The executive committee of 

 the Western Field Trials Association has extended the lime 

 for receiving entries for the All-Aged Stake to Oct. 33,— R, C, 

 VAN HOBN, Secretary. 



