Evening star., 1901-04-27
TO SAVE THE LOBSTER
How Uncle Sam Will Rescue it From
Impending Doom
WILL BUILD A Big HATCHERY
To Raise and Plant the Young by
the Million.
)F INTEREST TO EPICURES

iSSSuS VI tiitt pitCtpuS CIuSldcSdH he VIII
establish on the Maine coast-the favorte
| haunt of our eastern species-a lobster
| hatchery, to cost $4,000. This will be our
| first government institution devoted exclu-
sively to lobster Matching. In it hundreds
of millions of eggs will, by artificial stim-
| ulus, be made to give forth their valuable
contents each year.
Only millio 1aires will be able to afford
Holsters ten years hence, unless something
| is done meanwhile to protect these crea-
lures. This is Uncle Sans estimate Ow-
ing to their wide area it will be impossible
for man to completely wipe them out. But
for all practical purposes 1t will be lost be-
fore the year 1911 unless heroic methods
are applied. The sorry condition Of the in
dustry can be summed up in these figures
In Maine, the foremost lobster state the
quantity has fallen off 90 per cent, and the
price has increased 60 per cent in ten years
Throughout the eastern lobster zone from
Labrador to Delaware, a similar change
has occurred.
Well worth a trip to Maine will be the
sight of the wonder work of this new in
stitution. Only within the past few wears
nave the life history and habits of the
lobster been known. Before dilating upon
its artificial propagation We must take
a glance at the natural processes by which
this best friend of the epicure makes his
advent into the restless, soothing realm of
i>'hS A>VpttHe
Eccentric Mother Lobster.
Mother Lobster, eccentric creature that
she is, coats the outside, of her body with
freshly laid egg. This she does usually in
| summer, every alternate year. The eggs
attach themselves to little leg-like protu-
berances on her under side. She coats
them with Acement-like substance which
the water Immediately hardens The ma
ternal instinct inspires her to thus glue
them fast to her lest they be lost in the
churning sea. She carries them ten or
eleven months before Matching ensues The
minute young break their shells, usually in
June All do not see the green glare of the
translucent sea at one and the same time
A week or more elapseS between the ad-
vent OF the frst and last born. From the
moment the little fellows appear they Sc
lect to take upon their own shoulders the
responsibilities of life and to paddle their
own canoes. They swim off to seek for
tune good or Ill, the fostering parent not
recognizing them again her offspring
The number Of young which a mother Iob-
ster thus produces every two years de-
pendS upon her size. If she be eight
inches long she produces 5000 eggs Thence
the NUMBER doubles every two inches add
ed Therefore a ten-inch mother carries
lo,Ho eggs; a tWelve-inch 10000: a four
teen-inch, 10000; sixteen-inch 81. .OOO and
so on up to 100000, which appears to be
the maximum.
The new hatchery will collect all egg
oearlng mothers obtainable along the
Name coast. 1t is against the state law
1or hshermen to sell to dealers Holsters
coated with the pregnant eggs MANY by
using a woolen mitten. strip off the eggs
leave them to die in their boats. and sell
the protesting females as lawful Holsters
But the new hatchery will send out n fleet
OF little launches, to canvass lobster not
ters far and wide. and pay for egg-bearine
Holsters the market price for those which
are marketable. Thus will be collected the
Np,
lied In the hatchery. Last year the fish
commissions general hatcheries at Glou-
cester and Woods Hole Mass, thus
nought n,Vo,"oo lobster eggs, from which
tneV Matched some So,0D0.0W young Rut
these hatcheries do not devote their ex-
elusive energies to the lobster.
Lobster Incubators.
Row after row of seven-quart glass jars,
arranged upon tables, will occupy the main
Matching room of the new station Through
these series Will pass continuous circula-
tlon or salt water pumped from the sea.
AS the thousands of egg-lobsters are
brought in men skilled in the art will strip
them of their beaded coatings. Each oper-
ator with his left hand will grasp a fight
ing creature from above turn her on her
back and lower her, head downward into
vessel designed for the purpose Press
ing her firmly against it's sides he will pre-
vent her manipulation of her claws With
d uuil, SIlOIl-Dldueu knlIe, ne Will SEPARATE
her eggs from the hair-like fbers holding
them. The subjects of this operation will
then be removed to a tank and returned
uninjured to the region whence they came
1nere they Will lay again two years later.
Ihe eggs will now be placed into the in
cubators-the jars upon the tables. They
will be dipped out into glass graduates Each
ounce marked thereupon will represent
$3.50 About half million eggs-21a quarts
will be placed in each jar When first in
troduced they will be matted together by
the hbers connecting them. In short time
they will separate and appear like so many
DARK green, yellowish- green and light gray
lsh beads, intermixed and measuring each
lis inch in diameter. Eggs taken in Oc-
tober will not hatch until May From those
taken in June the young will begin to APP
pear in tWenty-four hours. The sea water
must become warmed to early summer heat
before they will hatch. In the center of
each table, between two rows of Matching
Jars, will be one row Of similar vessels for
the reception of the young, passing therein
with the circulating water. A cover of
muslin upon the latter jars will prevent
their escape.
Protection for Lobster, fr.
Lobster jr., resembles a mosquito wig
gler-such as seen in rain barrels-just
after emerging from his egg. He is third
Of an inch long. transparent and slightly
reddish. From the outset he is dissatisfied
with his birthday clothes Almost his first
act is to shed them During his first six or
eight weeks he kicks off his little shell five
or six times and grows to be 3-5 inch long,
By these processes he completely trans
forms himself grows legs and claws; as
sumed an indistinct resemblance to his
mother. His eyes are grotesquely enor-
nous and staring. He has remained all the
while at or near the surface of the water
being attracted by the brighter light
Even in his first swaddling clothes he is
a bloodthrsty cannibal; He is hungry
from the moment of birth, and when
hatched in the sea feeds voraciously upon
minute cruStaceanS. If he cannot obtain
this natural food he turns upon his brother
and gobbles him alive. The great problem
of the new hatchery will be how best to
supply the little gluttons with natural food
to prevent constant repetitions Of the ca
tastrophe which betook the Kilkenny cats
who ate each other up. Hitherto in the
general fish hatcheries the newly born lob
sters have been returned to the sea as
promptly as possible. But there, while In
the swimming stage, they fall as prey to
all kinds Of fishes. For experiment some
of the young have been submerged in boxes
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