ACCLIMATIZATION OF FISH IN THE PACIFIC STATES. 
459 
THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
HISTORY OF PLANTS. 
A full account of the planting of eastern lobsters ( Homarus americanus ) in tbe 
Pacific Ocean has been given in the paper by Mr. Richard Kathbun, entitled “The 
transplanting of lobsters to the Pacific Coast of the United States,” published in the 
Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission for 1888. The following notes on the 
history of the plants are largely abstracted from Mr. Rathbun’s report, to which 
recourse should be had by those desiring a more detailed discussion of the subject 
than is given in the present paper. 
Five attempts have been made to introduce eastern lobsters to the Pacific Coast. 
The first trial was a failure, owing to a railroad accident; the others were successful 
to the extent of reaching the coast with live lobsters and depositing them in suitable 
-waters. 
The first attempt to transport live lobsters across the continent was made in 1873 
by Mr. Livingston Stone, who represented the United States Fish Commission and 
the California fish commission in the matter. Lobsters constituted only a small 
part of the contents of the aquarium car, which had been stocked with a number of 
eastern fresli-water and marine fishes. The start was made with 162 lobsters obtained 
from Woods Hole and Massachusetts Bay. By the breaking of a railroad bridge over 
the Elkhorn River near Omaha, the aquarium car was wrecked and the contents lost. 
Forty lobsters had survived the journey to that point. 
In 1874 Mr. Stone undertook the transportation of another lot of lobsters, under 
the auspices of the California fish commission. The consignment consisted of 150 
egg-bearing lobsters procured in Boston. The losses en route were very large, only 
four lobsters reaching the coast alive. These were deposited in San Francisco Bay, at 
Oakland, on June 12. At Salt Lake City, Utah, two lobsters were put in Great Salt 
Lake. 
Efforts in this direction were not renewed until 1879, when, under Mr. Stone’s 
direction, the United States Fish Commission made the third attempt to introduce 
lobsters into the Pacific Ocean. The lot consisted of 22 females, to which were 
attached about 400,000 eggs nearly ready to hatch. Between Boston and Albany 
40,000 eggs hatched. The trip to California was made with the loss of only one 
lobster, the remainder being deposited in excellent condition off Bonito Light-house in 
a sheltered position a few miles outside of the Golden Gate. 
Mne years later the Fish Commission sent a relatively large number of adult and 
embryo lobsters to California, in a special car in charge of Mr. J. Frank Ellis. The 
lobsters, which were collected at Woods Hole, consisted of 254 males and 360 females, 
8 of the latter carrying eggs on the swimmerets; 150,000 loose eggs were also added 
to the consignment. The losses on this trip were quite large, amounting to 282 adults. 
In Mr. Rathbun’s opinion the heavy mortality was due to the weak condition of the 
lobsters incident to the spawning and molting conditions. Of the eggs, 75 per cent 
reached the west coast safely. The place selected for the planting of the lobsters 
was Monterey Bay. On June 23, 162 lobsters were placed in the sea about three- 
fourths of a mile off shore from Pacific Grove, in water 12 fathoms deep with rocky 
bottom. A second plant of 95 lobsters was made July 1, a mile off Point Lobos, to 
