Fishery Board for Scotland. 
XXXV 
with gateways and aerators) is fitted. Each compartment is again 
divided into three — the iueubator, the inlet, and the outlet com- 
partments. In the outlet compartment a siphon is placed which 
draws the water, working automatically, and causing the water to 
rise and fall. The advantage of this apparatus is that the ova can 
be transferred from one incubator to another through the gateways, 
without taking the incubator up, so that they can be cleansed with 
less trouble. In the middle of the hatching room are placed three 
large tanks of wood, in which spawning fish can be kept alive. 
From these boxes the fish are taken and stripped for their ova, 
according as they ripen. After the ripe quantity is taken from 
them they are put back into the tanks, and the process is repeated 
till all the ova are taken from the fish. At Flodevig, in Norway, Method in 
an improved method is now adopted of keeping the live ripe cod in Norwa y- 
a very large tank, allowing them to spawn naturally, and skimming 
off the fertilised ova which collects on the surface of the water. 
In the hatching room at Dildo Island, a Chester apparatus, similar 
in construction, is kept on the other side of the room, and the 
hatchery is capable of producing 200,000,000 cod fry in one season. 
In Newfoundland these active measures have been accelerated by Decrease in 
the marked and continuous decline which for some years has been £ e jJ^*jj^ g 
observed in the cod fishery, and the necessity of doing something land, 
to restore the depleted grounds. As the Commissioners properly 
observe, 'it is useless for mere theorists to tell us that fish are so Fish can be 
' prolific that they cannot be exterminated ; that from some un- byoverJfishfno- 
' kuown causes fish come iu plentifully in certain years, then 
' become scarce, and after years of absence return in abundance; 
' that we cannot calculate their erratic pelagic movements ; that 
' man cannot exhaust the great ocean. These specious but utterly 
c baseless theories are confuted by the undeniable fact, that in all 
! our great bays the supply of cod has been steadily diminishing, 
' never increasing ; and that several of them are almost depleted, so 
' that the fishermen are driven to other distant places in search of 
' fish. For such a decline there must be causes. It is our part to 
• search out and remove these causes and use remedial measures.' 
LOBSTER-CULTURE. 
Of spscial interest to us in Scotland are the efforts which are being it is proposed 
made in Newfoundland to hatch lobsters artificially. Newfound- sevTrSbster 
land is the home of the lobster, and it is proposed to establish at Hatcheries in 
least one lobster hatchery in each bay, whereby the stock of lobsters S. found " 
may be not only maintained but greatly increased. This was also 
the advice given by Colonel Marshall M' Donald to the member of 
this Board whose privilege it was to confer with him on the subject 
in April last. ' Select,' he said, ' certain areas where the ground is 
' suitable for breeding lobsters, prohibit all fishing on this ground, 
' and they will serve as central points of supply, and so multiply 
' that the fishery along the coast will be repleuished. I do not 
' think any special measures for the preservation of the lobster 
' when hatched are necessary. The lobster occupies rocky ground ; 
