126 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



fourth-stage lobsters to first stage, and, second, the number of 

 "fours" to egg lobsters, provided, of course, that the egg lobsters on 

 hand do not overcrowd the capacity of the particular plant. In 

 placing a value upon proportions of "fourth stagers" to newly 

 hatched fry, the number of fry dealt with in a single experiment has 

 been considered; e. g., a proportion of 50 per cent, carried through 

 in an experiment with 500 or 1,000 fry can not fairly be compared 

 with the same proportion in an experiment in which 5,000 or 20,000 

 fry are used. We have allowed ourselves to mark our progress and 

 the value of the method, first, by comparison with our former results, 

 and, secondly, with the experiments undertaken elsewhere having the 

 same end in view. 



YEARLY PROGRESS AND OUTPUT. 



Since this year happens to be the decennial of this particular series 

 of experiments and operations, the presentation of a short summary 

 of yearly results in regard to total output is appropriate. 



In 1898 Doctor Bumpus, now the honorable President of this Con- 

 gress, and at that time Director of the United States Fish Commission 

 Station at Woods Hole and member of the Rhode Island Commission 

 of Inland Fisheries, had the faith and courage to undertake a new 

 series of experiments in rearing the larval lobsters. Judged by the 

 ingenuity put into them, and the experience and encouragement got 

 out of them, these experiments during the first year were successful, 

 though the number of fry reared was small. The total output is 

 summarized in the report of the work in these words: "Several 

 lobsters were actually raised to the stage when the characters of the 

 adult are assumed — the fourth molt."* 



The next year, 1899, the results were better because of the use of 

 "a large bag of scrim made after the fashion of a fish pocket and 

 hanging down into the water from a square floating frame." The 

 output is given in the following words: "By the methods above 



* Twenty-ninth Annual Report of the Rhode Island Commissioners of Inland Fisheries, p. 



