456 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
duction of the Eastern lobster upon a large scale. Will it, to any extent, disturb the 
general balance of life in that region, reducing the prominence of some species and per- 
haps 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. 
An erroneous notion prevails among many persons with respect to the difficulties 
attending the transplanting of lobsters and the delays incidental to their introduction 
upon a new coast. It has indeed been a perplexing problem to determine the best 
methods of shipping them long distances over land, but even with that point decided, 
if we may so consider it, the task is still far from being accomplished. The lobster is, 
to the best of our knowledge, a slow-growing species, not attaining a length of 10 
inches within at least five or six years from the time of leaving the egg, and by some 
it has been computed that the growth is even less rapid. The five hundred and sixty- 
five 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 breed- 
ing stock, and any increase in their numbers must be derived from the growth of their 
progeny, also taking into account the young embryos placed in the water off Monterey 
in 1888. The number of embryos planted 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 introduc- 
tion, a maximum of 1,800,000 eggs and embryos would be all that could be expected 
from the original lot of females planted, under the most favorable circumstances, and 
providing they all lived that long. Prolonging these conditions, the maximum number 
of eggs would not be increased from year to year before the fifth or sixth year. It is 
probable, however, that the original stock of adult lobsters will not keep entirely to- 
gether, and some will undoubtedly become the prey of fishes. Moreover, lobster em- 
bryos are subject to great mortality, and only a very small percentage reach maturity. 
If at the end of six or even ten years a few thousand only compose the colony off 
Monterey, the experiment may be considered as successful, but when once it has been 
firmly established on so large a basis the annual increase will be much more rapid. 
The above remarks, perhaps at the first sight discouraging to some of the pro- 
moters of the scheme of introducing this important crustacean in the Pacific Ocean, 
but not appearing so to the Fish Commission, have been written with a special ob- 
ject in view. The General Government has, at considerable expense, made several 
plants of breeding lobsters in excellent condition upon favorable parts of the Pacific 
coast. Other shipments may be made in the future, but here the power of the Gov- 
ernment ceases, and it rests entirely with the people in whose districts the plantings 
have been made to give the experiment a fair trial. The grounds which the lobsters 
are observed to inhabit for the purposes of feeding and spawning should not, under 
any circumstances, be molested. The taking of lobsters purposely by any fishing 
method should be prohibited not simply for a specified term of years, but until there 
are positive indications that they have become firmly established upon the coast, and 
all lobsters accidentally captured should be returned to the water at once. It is in- 
cumbent upon the authorities not only to enact laws covering this matter, but also to 
provide that they be executed promptly and impartially. Without such co-operation 
