Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-14
REARING LoBsrERs By HAND.

L
the human race during the whole period Of
which we have historical knowledge"
REARING LOBsrERs By HAND.
How Any One May Do It-Hopes for L.ebsts.
Fisheries Through Propagation.
'Once upon . time" said an expert in mat
tiers crustacean to q star reporter, ''there were
crabs and Holsters in existence for which the
modern fisherman would have gone a-hrntine
with the most approved weapons and caution.
For example, in times ante diluvian there waa
lobster which had body eight feet long and
| could stretch twelve feet with its formidable
arms. Positive knowledge Of this giant Of long
ago is conveyed by geological research. II
must have contained meat enough to make q
salad for regiment Of soldiers. In those days
Of long ago everything grew to enormous di-
mansions, whether animal or vegetable. Frogs
were big and active enough to leap at one hop
from the Treasury building to the Capitol, and
other creatures, particularly those of . de-
structive sort, were in proportion.
"Only few little specimens are left to illus
trate the giant crustacean forms OF that ancient
epoch. 1t is known how crabs and Holsters are
Matched from eggs, resembling upon birth
nothing so much as the animalcule shown BY
the microscope in a drop Of ditch water. They
are as unlike the shell fish they are to become
in mature life as a grub IL unlike butterfly.
In the case of the crab the egg clusters are at
tached beneath the animal after extrusion.
while with the lobster they become fastened to
the TAIL which. by its tanning motion, increases
the stream OF oxygenated air through and
among the ova.
From the eggs Of the lobster are Matched
creatures not in the least resembling their par
ents-little fellows that swim with feather-like
locomotive organs near the surface Of the water.
At the end Of six weeks they develop legs, I'M
less, as is highly probable, they have previously
been devoured by fishes or other enemies, be-
coming thereupon small Holsters Of familiar
the young Holsters become walking animals,
and, sinking to the bottom, Immediately seek
hiding-places to protect them from their foes.
ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF LoBsrERs.
"The first experiments in the adaptation Of
knowledge on this subject to the artificial prop
agatiOn Of Holsters were made simply in glass
Jars with sea water that was changed daily.
Even under these primitive conditions the
newly Matched FRY thrived and grew to be of
some size and healthy. Any one who desires to
rear Holsters by hand can accomplish the pur-
ing females in suitable ponds or tanks until the
young come out. In raising the animals on
large scale, however, it would be best to sepa-
rate the eggs from the lobster and spread them
upon trays, allowing the water to percolate
among them, as is done with salmon eggs. BY
this method much trouble would be avoided as
well as the expense Of feeding the adult hen
Holsters
There is no reason apparent wherefore the
same success should not be obtained with lob
sters as has been achieved with salmon, which
have been made to swarm once more bv myriads
In streams depopulated by imprudent fishing
Already the Holsters on the North Atlantic
coast are rapidly vanishing and, unless meas
ures are soon taken for supplying their place
by artificial propagation, there will be none
left. Apparently, however. it will be entirely
practicable to turn out upon the depleted
grounds many millions of young Holsters yearly
as soon as proper plants for this object have
been established. One thing in favor Of lob
ster raising, as to cheapness. is that they prefer
food that is partially decomposed, and the
waste food OF the towns, now thrown away,
might be most usefully employed by the lob
ster hatcheries. Stale fish is esteemed by lob
sters an especial delicacy.
SUITABLE LOCALITIES.
"For the purpose Of a lobster farm rocky
ground should be chosen, because that is their
natural haunt and there they find suitable
places to hide. Inasmuch as they do not walk
abroad very much, but are addicted rather to
adopta home and keep it except when making
excursions in search Of food. the water farmer
who sows the pasture lands of the sea with a
crop OF Holsters may reasonably hope in time
to reap the result of his labors. There are no
Holsters on the Pacific coast and the efforts so
far made to carry them across the continent
for transplantation have failed, chiefly because
the creatures have died on the way.
INTERESTING POINTS.
"There are many curious points about crabs
and Holsters. Every one Of either genus is
provided with big claw for crushing and a
small claw adapted by its shape for cutting as
scissors do. With these two claws they tear
the food they capture into fragments and feed
themselves literally from hand to mouth But
there is every reason to suppose that the claws
are intended quite as much for fighting as for
eating purposes, inasmuch as such powerful
hands are not needed for devouring the soft
food they prefer. Crabs particularly are fight
ing animals; in fact, they will fight anything
l have seen a crab, III conflict with a lobster.
catch the latter over the fore part of the head,
where the shell is hardest, and crush it in by
one effort And it rather bears out nv idea
that the claws Of these creatures are particu-
larly Weapons of war; that the moment one of
them receives severe injury in q claw it drops it
of by voluntary amputation, severing its con-
nection with the body at the shoulder by an
act OF its own will, 1t seems to me probable
that If the claw was necessary for feeding nature
would rather seek to cure an injury to it than
let the animal discard it altogether.
''The species of crab which is most conspicu-
Ously a fighter is the hermit crab. Its first
idea Of independent life is to eat harmless
whelk and occupy its shell; its next notion is to
give battle to every crab of the same persua-
sion as itself that il comes across Altogether
hermit crabs are undoubtedly the most quar-
rels0me creatures in existence"