The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1896-08-26
LOBSTER FARM.
The Government Hatching Station
at Woods Holl, Mass.
Maintaining the Supply OF the
Edible Crustacean.


the United States Fish Commission in
Woods Holl, Mass. Before you is n
| glass jnr filed with running water.
Loosely filling it about half way up
are large number of eggs nearly
round in shape and about one-six-
teenth of an inch in diameter, ever
trying to rest on the bottom, but
| boiling and bubbling up with the
force of the incoming current below
and dancing in it like the corn on the
| stove. Once in n while one of the ex-
| panding shells falls of it's owners back,
and before Mr.. Lobster knows it,
whiskl OF he goes up and away with
the current through long tube into
bigger receiving jar us frisky as
| young colt.
Uncle Sam takes good deal of pains
with his lobster crop. It's one of the
most important known to the coast
fisherman, and the government doesn't
intend that either the catcher or the
eater of lobster shall stnrve by rea-
son of its extinction.
The lobster leads nomadic life,
migrating more or less from warmer
waters to colder and from shallow to
deep, according to the season. He
can dispense with claw, though un-
willingly, and grow another in its
stead. He is fond of fresh lobster
himself as well as OF fish and clans,
and eats his food bones and all, the
| bony part furnishing him with mater
ial for his shell. The lobster is very
| particular to get himself new shell
| when the old one has become last
years style. The shell cracks, warps,
| curls up and sloughs off, materially
aided by the contortions of the lobster
himself. Then he emerges in thin
new suit, which gradually hardens I'M
til it in in turn ready to be cast off.
The fish commission is in league
with the lobster against his enemies,
and these are men, other Holsters, par
asites. disease, and fish. eating things
generally. Hence, the artificial hatch
ing process.
The female lobsters for the commits
sion are caught in the ordinary way
in traps or lobster pots-baited boxes
or baskets, anchored to the bottom of
| the lobster beds with stones, and
pulled up at intervals for inspection.
The law in all tho states forbids the
taking of female Holsters with eggs,
or OF any lobster under ten or eight
inches long. But for tho purposes of
scientific propagation an exception is
chceriully made.
The she lobster is so proud of her
eggs that she CLUES them on the out
side of her body. Hence she is
called at such times "berried hen"
lobster. Formerly, before the pass
age OF repressive laws, these egg-de.
corated Holsters were as great n deli
cacy as roe shad, and the eggs were
used in making sauces for salads.
The United States was much quicker
than the European nations to recog-
niae the danger of destroying the
"berried" Holsters and TO protect
them by law.
Fish cultural sharps talk lightly of
millions OF eggs, and no wonder. One
average ten-inch lobster will yield
10000 eggs, an average Undetermined
one about $4,000. In the matches
these are stripped from the Holsters
and put into Macdonald Matching jars
which are so arranged that consta mt
current of pure sea water is forced in
at the bottom and passes off at the
top. Tho eggs are heavier than sea
water and hence sink to the bottom,
where the incoming stream OF water
keeps them bobbing about. When
the lobster larvae hatch out their
shells sink, and they being lighter
float off through the discharge pipe
and are set free. The Matching is al
most all completed in June of each
year, though sometimes it continues
during early July. The female lob
ster breeds only once in two years.
Theyoung lobster, like young human
beings, is at first radical, scorning
the ways of its ancestors. 1t lives at
the surface of the water, swimming
freely about in the sunlight. But as
the young thing grows aud gains in
dignity it becomes conservative;
grows heavier, too, in specific gravity
10 xval1 and ;clx -