4'26 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



what can be done to stop it and insure the future prosperity of the 

 fishery? The task of remedying the evil will be much more difficult 

 than the proof of its existeuce, aud the question is one regarding which 

 we have as yet no definite ideas- 

 Past legislation has certainly not been very effective, nor can any 

 laws avail much until the true character and extent of the evil has 

 been determined; neither are laws beneficial unless they can be en- 

 forced; an exceedingly difficult task in the case of any fishery. 



The question of artificial propagation has been raised, and a few un- 

 successful attempts have already been made to carry it on. But the 

 failures have not been without cause, as we do not yet even know the 

 rate of growth of lobsters, or whether they require six or a dozen years 

 to attain the adult size, which is about ten or eleven inches. Imme- 

 diately after hatching they swim freely about at the surface of the 

 water, and continue their erratic ways of life during most of the first 

 season, after which they settle down upon the bottom and assume their 

 future habits. 



The first task, therefore, which we suggest for the would-be bene- 

 factor of the lobster fisherj" is a most thorough investigation of all 

 points bearing upon the natural history of the species, upon the changes 

 which have occurred in the fishing grounds, and upon the relations of 

 the total catch for each section to the number of fishermen aud traps 

 set, and the average size of the lobsters taken. 



WJ ,h the census returns, soon to be published, as a starting point, a 

 plan of the work can be easily sketched out, and the figures there 

 giv^^ nay serve as a basis for future calculations. 



206.— BEARING €AKI» IIV AJLKAL.IIVE: WATER. 



By E. S. STOVER. 



[From a letter to Prof. S. F. BaircL] 



Your request for si^ecimens of young carp raised in alkali water 

 and sample of the water is received, aud I shall take great pleasure in 

 complying. 



I received this lot of carp from Mr. Menaul at Laguna, N. Mex., in 

 the spring of 1883, he having received them from you the fall before. 

 As it was the first in this part of New Mexico I gave them some very 

 severe tests, simply to see if they were hardy and would do well in 

 alkali water. I dug a small hole in the ground that was full of alkali, 

 the whole ground about being incrusted with it, and in this hole which 

 filled itself from the surface water I put two of the carp, really expect- 

 ing that it would kill them. But to my surprise they flourished in it, 

 aud, if anything, did better tliau those which I put in the basin of my 

 fountain which contained pure water from the well. 



