ECONOMIC I MPORTANt 14 the annual ? b f lobsters 011 the Atlantic Coast of tl e United 7.5 per cent. is front tl e waters I f .
1:sS0 the total yield of the United States was over 20 million pounds. and in Hs!, this had risen to over 30 million, but that was the hdi water mark of lobster pr,mluction. With 1.S90 there has been a constant decrease in ttio amount, so that in 1S99 it was only a little over 13 million pounds, and in 19o0 still 1(—.. kilt while there has been this immense decrease in amount. the ever increasing den and has stead ily raised the price, so th it the value If hie catch in 1S9S was more than A1.300.000. while in it was about i::Sti11.11110. Ttt 18's0 the Massa chusetts catch was over 4.300.100 worth about is1•8.000, or about 3.1; cents per pound: in 189S it had fallen to less than 1.700,01m pot nd-, worth less than s14cr0oll. or about .4.7 cents per pound. Strenuous efforts have been made to prevent the extermination of the lobsters and to replenish the depleted areas, but so far with lit tie success. All the New England States have laws proteeting small lobsters, but these laws vary somewhat in the diticrent States and are difficult to enforce. The principal feature of these laws is the determination of ete si.e of a marketable lobster, measured from the anterior end of the head (the so called heck or rostrum) to the tip of the talson. None of the slates permit the sale of lobsters less than nine inches in length, and the Massachusetts law places the limit at melt in additie n to protective legislation. attempts have been nuide to save the lobster-supply by artificial hatching and planting of the voting. 'these efforts lute been made chiefly by the tinted stat. s Eish Corn mission, which has for some years past secured all the females 'in berry' which were obtait-able. an I.
taking the eggs from them, has raised t b under artificial conditions, as is done with In 1900 more than 90.000,000 eggs thus handled, front which over czo.000.000 cote t hatched. Unfortunately. attempts have not net with any eopsiderabb• •ss. the young in the hatcheries hay• a very hi •n1 death-rate, owing to the attacks f parasitic diat oms and bacteria. In 1901 :mil 1902, however. more encollrn..111,7 results were 11.111 ev. r before, the use of large bolting-eloth `cages,' in which the young were kept under as natural conditions possible. while undergo ing their metamorphosis. It is probably only a question of a few years before the Fish Com mission will be able to maintain a reasonable supply of lobsters along the New England coast. Lobsters are caught chiefly by mean. of 'traps' made of laths and stout cord, into which they are beguiled by a piece of meat or fish. These traps are usually three or fotor feet long and capably of eunta Ming a number of lobsters. They are set in water ranging from five to six up to thirty fathoms or even more, and are visited every two or three days, if the weather permits. From the traps the lobsters are taken to floating cages, called ears, where they are kept until enough are gathered to warrant a shipment.
MummaAlan% Ilerriek, The American Lob ster: A Study of I Is Habits and Derclopment (Washington, 1895) ; Branpus, "The Embryology of the American Lobster," in Journal of .31 or phology. vol. v. (Chicago, 1891) ; Annual Report of rommissioners of Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island (Providence, R. I.,