Evening star., 1911-08-25
Hatching Young Lobsters.

At this time of the year The fish hatch
cries are idle except in the LOBSTER de-
partment, where millions of youngsters
about the size of a pin head are being
hatched in Mcdonald Matching jars. The
lobster fishermen along the coast bring
in the seed Holsters. they are called.
which are stripped of their eggs and then
turned loose again in the bay. The eggs
are placed in Mcdonald jars, which are
filled with running water from the bay.
A sort of syphon. thin tube, runs down
to the bottom carrying fresh air, which
keeps the little seeds dancing and SWIM
ming about and diverts their attention
exterminate themselves. AS soon as
lobster is a minute old he seems TO de-
velop a beligerent disposition and be-
gins to fight whatever he can see. The
bacilli attack and destroy each other SO
rapidly that the jars would be filled with
dead ones IL this strong current of air
did not keep them whirling and give them
something else to think about. Even
with this apparatus the bottom of each
Jar is covered daily with thick deposit
OF dead lobesters only a few hours Old
In about ten days they stop fighting and
are conveyed through a glEss syphon
from one jar to another and then to an
other until they are finally liberated in
the bay when they are old enough to take
care of themselves.
When the mother lobster discharges
they float for several days on the sur
face of the water. where every passing
fish can swallow them by the thousands.
When they get older they work down to
the bottom and hide among the rocks and
stones, where they have chance of pro-
lection and are able to grow. A lobster
grows at the rate of about an inch and
a half a year and 1t takes them from
seven to ten years to reach maturity.
Baby Lobsters Pugnacious.
Baby Holsters are lovely to look at.
They resemble tiny butterfies-when they
are no bigger than the head of pin-and
have the most brilliant coiors-green.
blue. purple and orange. But like some
other creatures they do not improve in
appearance as they grow older. The
tiny Holsters in the hatchery are fed on
hamburg steaks-that is, raw beef chop
ped up very fine and dropped into the
water. IL is the rule to discharge them
when they are about six months old. for
At that time they are able TO take care
Of themselves.
Last year more than 15O.0OO,OOO eggs
were received at Woods Hole station.
and about one-third of them were hatch
ed out safely and the baby Holsters re-
leased in Buzzards bay
There has been great scarcity OF
Holsters OF late years. and they have been
bringing very high prices because of an
increase in the demand and decrease In
the supply. Conservation laws have been
enacted by all the New England states
which reduced the catch for several
years. but IL is now increasing gradually
And 1t is the opinion of the most com.
petent authority that In ten or twelve
years. il present methods are pursued
there will not be Holsters enough for al
OF us. In 1850 more than 30OO0OO(
pounds were caught on the New England
coast: I'm 1908. twenty years later. the
total was less than one-half as much
being 100000. AT the same time tn,
demand has become SO great that tho
100000 pounds of lobster brough
twice as much money as the S0OO0,O0
pounds.
But things have become regulated nov
all along the coast. so that men are pun
ished for sending young Holsters and fe
male Holsters to the market.
Rhode Island produces about 100000
!, pounds. which keeps about 400 fishermen
busy. The crop was formerly Yer!
much larger. Then the supply becam'