320 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



and cool for a long time. If one has no ice, lieatlier soaked in sea- water 

 may be used, dry fresh straw, or sail-cloth. During the cooler season 

 only heather or straw should be placed at the top and bottom of the 

 box. 



In winter the sides of the box may be lined on the inside with paper, 

 so as to protect the lobsters against the cold, but there should not be 

 any paper either at the top or bottom, as the lobsters would be stifled, 

 owing to the lack of air. When the lobsters have not been kept pris- 

 oners for more than eight days, they will, when packed in boxes in the 

 manner described above, keep for four days. The fresher the lobsters 

 the better will they be able to stand the fatigue of the voyage. 



The boxes are placed on the deck in such a position that the water 

 from the melting ice does not reach the lobsters, which cannot well en- 

 dure fresh water, and so that the lobsters are protected against rain, as 

 rain-water is very apt to injure them. Lobsters which during trans- 

 portation have been exposed to the rain, when placed in tanks will 

 generally lose their claws. The persons who ship lobsters should there- 

 fore see to it that the boxes are placed in proper position on board the 

 steamer. It is best to place the boxes containing lobsters on the fore 

 part of the steamer, so that the lobsters may get the benefit of the spray 

 from the waves. 



Shad in North Caeolina. — The following extracts are made from 

 the Weekly News, of Fayetteville, N. C, Mr. S. G. Worth, late fish com- 

 missioner of the State, being its editor: 



From persons who handle about 95 per cent of the fish in the lower 

 part of the Cape Fear Eiver, it is learned that the catch of shad up to 

 the first part of April is double that of last year, when more shad were 

 caught than in any previous season. The season here begins with Feb- 

 ruary and lasts three months. Thus far, from careful estimates, 00,000 

 shad have been caught at the fisheries below Wilmington. With one 

 month's more time in which to run the seines, the season's catch may 

 safely be estimated at 100,000 fish. The greater part of the catch Is 

 made by seines in the river, there being 140 men engaged in the shad 

 fisheries below Wilmington, using 70 nets. 



It is stated on good authority that Cape Fear River shad are the best 

 caught on the Atlantic coast, being larger and of more delicate flavor 

 tiian those from the Connecticut, the Delaware, or Savannah. Large 

 numbers of Connecticut shad, however, are being taken in the Cape 

 Fear this season, the river having been partly stocked with young shad 

 from the Connecticut in 187G and subsequent years. 



Many more shad than usual have been caught up the Northeast Cape 

 Fear this season, residents saying that they have never before seen fish 

 so abundant. The yield of the shad fishery for the State may be placed 

 at $1,000,000 a year. 



Fayetteville, N. C, Ajyril 7, 1886. 



