462 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
the general balance of life in that region, reducing the prominence of some species and perhaps aiding 
others in their struggle for existence? Only the future can decide this matter, but in any event the 
addition of the lobster to the Pacific waters could produce no harm for which the inhabitants would 
suffer. 
Mr. A. B. Alexander, fishery expert on the Fish Commission steamer Albatross , 
thinks that some parts of the Alaskan coast afford better conditions for the lobster 
than exist on the shores of the Pacific States. He writes as follows on this point: 
The geographical position, temperature of water, and general character of the bottom in many 
parts of Alaska are, in the opinion of the writer, much better suited to the requirements of the lobster 
than that part of the coast lying below or south of Cape Flattery. The whole archipelago of south- 
eastern Alaska contains many places where the lobster would be more likely to live and multiply than 
at any place on the Pacific Coast. 
The temperature and other environments of this region correspond more closely to the home of 
the lobster on the Atlantic Coast. It is quite evident that lobsters require a great change in tempera- 
at.ure of water, far greater than they would find off the Pacific Coast below 50° north latitude, from 
the fact that they are only found iu latitudes where the water undergoes such a change. 
The coast of southeastern Alaska is cut up into hundreds of islands, both large and small, forming 
numerous bays, channels, aud estuaries, very similar to the coast of Maine and some parts of Nova 
Scotia and Newfoundland. From Massachusetts to the Gulf of St. Lawrence is where lobsters abound 
in greatest numbers, and in this region the water in summer is comparatively warm and in winter 
extremely cold, elements perfectly congenial to this crustacean. In Alaska the water annually under- 
goes, to a much less degree, the change which takes place in the latitudes above mentioned. All 
things considered, no great mistake would be made in planting lobsters in the waters of southeastern 
Alaska. The harbor of Sitka would be an excellent place to try the experiment ; also at Hooniah. 
There are many localities equally as good above Prince of Wales Island, namely, Howkan, Nichols 
Bay, and Shakaan; or at Loring, Revillagigedo Island, and several more points farther up the Behm 
Canal. 
RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS IN PLANTING LOBSTERS. 
No economic results have attended the planting of lobsters on the Pacific Coast, 
and, although the capture of several adult lobsters in years subsequent to the plants 
has been recorded, no specimen of lobster from the Pacific Ocean has been preserved, 
or identified by a scientific authority. 
The reasons for the absence of results are unknown. Whether the negative out- 
come has been due to the nonadaptability of the Pacific waters to the lobster, the 
destruction of the plants by natural enemies before propagation had ensued, the 
failure of fishermen to catch the lobsters, or the scattering of the relatively small 
plants over a large area and the failure of the sexes to come together, can not be 
determined. It may be that it is yet too soon to expect noticeable results, at least 
from the plants made in 1888 aud 1889, while the small deposits in the earlier years 
may be dismissed from consideration. The following extract from Mr. Bathbun’s 
report bears on this question: 
The lobster is, to tbe best of our knowledge, a slow-growing species, not attaining a length of 
10 inches within at least 5 or 6 years from the time of leaving the egg, and by some it has been com- 
puted that the growth is even less rapid. The 565 lobsters recently planted on the coasts of California 
and Washington can not in themselves be regarded as a direct addition to the food supply. They are 
only a breeding stock, and any increase in their numbers must be derived from the growth of their 
progeny, also taking into account the young embryos placed iu the water oft’ Monterey in 1888. The 
number of embryos plauted by the Fish Commission was about 100,000. Supposing that they all lived, 
we could not at the end of five or six years have an addition of more than that number of adult 
lobsters in the Monterey region, and until that time there would be no additions to the original stock 
of breeding lobsters. At the end of the first year, or during the first breeding season following their 
introduction, a maximum of 1,800,000 eggs and embryos would be all that could be expected from the 
