Naturalist.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 346, 25 December 1902, Page 7

Naturalist.

Steffi h bably has 1 ho honor of owning Che SSOK Iwgtist. 13 was grown on a amall "■■ farm,- Kill .rneyj-five-miles frbift I*ederieton,;N.Jg^ v;y ,, v ,.,..,, . . , , , Just before ' , and .found' to tip *he scale at 48 pounds. Its length was-30 inches v andjl}eight ,18 r T iffloheß. It back. Now,stuffed And.mounted, it'forme ah exhibit pi which th'e locality % ! KILLED; k >HrcltatVMG^©EF.l^at J The biggest wolf story of the season" " comes from Billing:* county, where G, W. Mysters was the lucky captor. Lupus in this case is reported to-Aave been BeVeri . feet and ten inches from his nose to, the ; tip of his rail| and to have weighed 168 pounds dead. He had been a long-time offender, and Mr -Myers, had. for yeara . made a standing offer of £lO for his u capture. It is estimated that he haa -' : killed £6OO worth of stock. Within ihH>' : last few months he has "kilted ft number of full-grown, cattle on Mr Myars" ranch.: The-hide was tanned and will bo retained ; as a souvenir. _•...:'/, „., -i PASSING OP THE LOBSTEB.

•The great decline of the lobster supply,' says Capt. Joseph W. Collin*, chairman of the commissioners of inland fisheries, and ..gam", 'ia unquestionable. In 1890, the average catch was 88 lobsters per pot but in 1900,10 yeare later, it had fallen off to only 45 per pot, Returns for 1901, just ended, show a further" great decrease of 24 per cent. The number of eggs which the Uai'ed, States fiah commissioners were able to obtain from the: Wood's Hoi hatchery in 1901 *as only one-half that which they procured there in 1900, orj approximately, only between one-nineteenth, and one-twentieth of the quantity they secured at the same place seven years ago. These facts make the subject a very serious matter for the consideration of all concerned.' : - The primary cause of. the swift diminution of the supply is the unlawful catoh* ing and marketing oMobsters before their first spawning, preventing their natural increase by procreation. Another cause is the immense business carried on. by canneries. Massachusetts and Maine, where enormous quantities were formerly tanned, were compelled to abandon the industry on account of the scanty supply, but in Nova Scofci* and Newfoundland there are many mammoth canneries, which annually consume millions «l lobsters of all sizes. Still another cause is the almost incredible increase of shipments to remote inland sections, made possible by improved and enlarged facilities for transportation, ' modern refrigerating cars enabling shippers to send largo and frequent invoices, to cities, and to was in mid-continent, and even beyond the . Eocky Mountains.. In Massachusetts it.is unlawful to sell or market any lobster less than 10} inches long, which is computed to be about; the average length of female lobsters when they reach maturity and begin to spawn, and they are estimated then to be from 5 to 7 years old. When lobsters of leas than the lawful 1 ength are caught the statutes provide that they .shall be returned to the water and left to mature, unmolested. In some oases the law. is obeyed, more ihstanoea" the'short lobsters are smuggled into market by rapacious fishermen and surreptitiously sold by dishonorable dealers. • - Pull-grown lobsters usually range from from one to two feet in length, but, ia rare instances, some have been caught which were two and, one-h*lf feet long. The males and females are about equally divided in number, but the females £tjtx@&k m>re meat than males.of the same eist. < 'fT .:•. ■.'■■..-.- '■ v ~

The spawn of the lobster is composed of very diminutive qgg&,«roi globule", of which each female pcodu 363 from 2,500 to 15,000 at a"single spawning, according to her growth, large . lobsters averaging nearly 14.000 each'. The females carry their spawn for from 10 to' 12 months and ' as they deposit it only once in evdty 1 two years, spfloi'esis not propagated so rapidly as might be inferred from the multitudinous nuhibar of eggs which each deposits when spawning. When .uniinprQghated,'the -i egg3.a'ce ..of a bright red. hue, whence"is' derived "t'le term * lobster, as applied to tbe'female. "When the eggs are' gravid and maturing, they' gradually become of a .muddy or- blackish a hue. i,■ r I •"-; -. v.' r!'l\\ >;.■; '•' rt ". •'..'■' Tae offspring of the lobster, technically 'known »3ffry~?rpr. * swimmerets,'are of very minute aiz j when- hatched, and instead of Crawling on their native rivers or bays, like their parents, they swim sportively about like little fishes of other species. After a few. months, however, they assume the. crawling hab,it r of their adult relations and'are nolonger 'in the Swims' r: '~ '■'■^'

Lobsters Indigenous to the waters of Long Island Sound, and along ' the Atlantic coast,'from New Jersey to New- ' foundlaad, are oj the same species of crustaceans. In summer -taey live near the shore and prefer a rocky bottom. In winter they crawl away to deeper water and sometimes descend to a depth of from 10 to 20 fathoms—96 :to 120 feet—on isteep shores, where they go into winter quarters* I Although exceedingly voraW tieus, they can exist a surprisingly, long ♦'; .time wholly without f 3od.- At mealtimes, ' when their larders have besn bountifully supplied, they are very deliberate and eat their .food an a state c.f luxurious leisure, not; .to say dignified. rpatfulness. For stealy diet they decidedly prefer the roe of living fish; but when they are unable / to;' catch 'em alive/ they sagaciously fall- . back, as 'twere, on' Hobson's choice' -and wisely eat dead fish. In,,.the ; United Spates lobsters . are... caught almost txolussively in wooden 1 lobster pots/or. basket?, constructed on the principle of Freacii rat traps, with' funnel-shaped holes, which the 'lobster - may easily enter, but from which, on account ofj his spreading claws, he cannot a escape. Thence, he is takento.a book to' havehis dull,greenish-yellow shelly with spots of bluish-black, transformed into, a pright ,scarlet hue, by b iling. . These .'pots' are baited with cheap fish and sunk to the bottom of the fishing waters by v m*eatis of stones, their positions being marked by buoys attached to them . The disastrous- decline in the -lobster supply is striking shown by a special tabulated statement . issued by the United States B'ish commissioh covering , the changes iq full detail from 1880 to .1900, inclusive, in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, : New,Jarae'y and Delaware,'to?."•■' the waters of which seven states the lobster fiaheries of the United States' are:•.■.•..' limited by ; nature. . , . •-< I aggregate catch in all ,the states enumerated was 20,128,033 pounds. Il!rlßsi>p by.Treason* of -iha catching and marketing! of immature, lobsters, ■,'.., cafch had increa ße d'to : ;Bo,77i;673 .pounds, lit 1900 this enormoussupply, .' not include largd quantities receiyed from .. . Nova Scbtta.phad dwindled to i5#67,741 , pounds, showing a decrease of very nearly • ©na-hal£. ' : -^...■:.'...". . ''''''.':'.:'■ • : "~-' „' ;