Water 82.73 Nitrogen 2.17 Albuminoids (nitrogen x 6.25) 13.57 Fat 1.97 Crude ash 1.74 Phosphorus (calculated as P2 06) .39 Sulphur (calculated as SO3) .43 Chlorine .59 Nutritive value of flesh of lobsters compared with beef as a standard and reckoned at 100. 61.97 ARTIFICIAL PROPAGATION OF THE LOBSTER. The rapid increase in the catch of this crustacean during the past ten years has drawn upon it the most earnest attention of all interested in the preservation of this valuable fishery. If the "berried" or female lobster bearing eggs, and the young and immature, were let alone by the fishermen there would be no necessity for a resort to artificial lobster culture. Maine has a most stringent law forbidding the taking and selling of "berried" lobsters, and of any lobster under 10-1/2 inches in length, but this law is evaded by numerous fishermen whenever possible. An idea of the extent to which short lobsters are marketed in the State may be gathered from the statement of Mr. A. R. Nickerson, commissioner of sea and shore fisheries for the State, that in 1899 over 50,000 short lobsters were seized and liberated by the State wardens. As these wardens only discover a small proportion of the short lobsters handled by the fishermen and dealers it is easy to see what a terrible drain this is on the future hope of the fishery--the young and immature. Large numbers of "berried" lobsters are also captured, the eggs brushed off, and the lobsters sold as ordinary female lobsters. The Report of the U. S. Fish Commission for 1897, on pages 235 and 236, contains the following account of the artificial propagation of lobsters: