TRANSPLANTING OF LOBSTERS TO THE PACIFIC COAST. 
457 
on tlie part of those whose interests are most at stake it can not be expected that the 
transplanting will result successfully. 
Information received from Monterey since this report was first written indicates, 
however, that the fishermen of that region thoroughly appreciate the necessity 
of protecting the lobsters to the full extent of their ability, and we feel assured that 
the experiment is receiving their earnest support. A few of the adult lobsters de- 
posited there have been observed during 1889, crawling upon the bottom in shallow 
water, but none have been captured in any of the nets. Young lobsters, measuring 
about 4 inches long, have also been reported from time' to time, but until specimens 
have been examined by some one competent to identify the species, we can not give 
full credence to the statements concerning them, as other kinds of crustaceans re- 
sembling small lobsters occur on the California coast. 
The relative merits of the several methods of shipping live lobsters across the con- 
tinent which have been followed up to the present time can best be decided after 
reading the accounts of the different trials given in the following pages. The subject 
has to be considered from at least two stand-points. While one method may insure 
safe transportation it may, at the same time, be too cumbersome to permit of the 
carrying of a sufficient number of individuals to do any good. On the other hand, any 
method that allows too large a percentage of loss must be uneconomical and un- 
profitable. The successful planting of a region must depend upon the bringing to- 
gether of lai’ge colonies of individuals in favorable localities, and large cargoes must 
therefore be provided for. 
In comparing the different shipments we are obliged to omit the first one, made in 
1873, which ended in a railroad accident near the middle of the continent. On the 
second trial the lobsters were packed with straw and sponges in narrow box compart- 
ments, and were constantly sprinkled with sea water. Some were transferred, how- 
ever, during the journey, to a large tank of sea water. Out of the one hundred and 
fifty lobsters with which the car started, only four survived the journey. The pub- 
lished accounts of the trip are too meager to explain the causes of the failure in all 
particulars. The packing about the lobsters in the compartments was probably too 
dense, and the temperature of their surroundings may have been at fault, while fresh 
water entered the boxes from the melting ice. The packing materials were also prob- 
ably not suitable for the purpose, the straw tending rapidly to decay. 
On the third trial the lobsters — twenty-two females with eggs — were carried in three 
large tanks of sea water, maintained at a low temperature. No record has been left 
us of the amount of space taken up by the tanks and by the 1,000 surplus gallons of 
water carried along to make changes on the way, but it must have been considerable. 
Only one lobster died during the journey and the remaining twenty-one were planted 
in the vicinity of Bonito light-house, olf San Francisco. It is curious to note, how- 
ever, that only female lobsters were iucluded in this, as well as in the two former 
shipments, and unless some of the embryos contained in the eggs planted with them 
reached maturity, no breeding could subsequently have taken place. 
By the time of the fourth and fifth shipments the means of transporting live fish 
had been greatly improved, and cars were in existence built specially for that purpose. 
The seasons of the year in which the shipments were made, however, were both un- 
favorable, but there had been no opportunity for a choice, as at other times the cars 
were needed for other branches of tlie work. The methods of packing followed 
