REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 120 



sweep; these are recorded on an automatic counting register held in 

 the hand. The count at each sitting is then posted. 



It is of little use to estimate the number of a lot of first-stage fry. 

 More than once the lots so estimated, even by experts, have yielded 

 not more than 10 per cent, of the estimated number; sometimes, no 

 doubt, they would run considerably over. For this reason, in order 

 to ascertain the proportion of newly hatched fry to the fourth stage, 

 the individuals must be counted both before and after the experiment. 

 This is a rather tedious process, but it is warranted and necessary 

 when new methods or new devices of construction are tested for their 

 relative efficiency. 



Tested by this method both the large canvas bags used of late 

 until this year, and the present boxes have yielded on several tests 

 40 per cent, of fourth-stage lobsters from lots of 20,000 newly hatched 

 fry. In one test of the canvas bags 48.2 per cent, were obtained in a 

 20,000 lot. In testing for relative value of foods in 1907, 40.6 and 

 39 per cent, were obtained in two respective tests, while one of the 

 boxes yielded 42 per cent. About 40 per cent, may be considered a 

 fair jdeld for lots of 20,000 under the present system of operation. 

 By using more fry more fourth-stage lobsters can be obtained from a 

 single car, but the percentage probably falls. 



There is another very different point of view from which the 

 efficiency of the present method may be judged, namely, the number 

 of fourth-stage lobsters which it will produce per egg lobster under 

 fair conditions. Toward the latter part of the season two years ago, 

 when the supply of eggs from the ordinary source had suddenly been 

 cut off, 56 egg lobsters were received from Noank through the courtesy 

 of the Connecticut Fish and Game Commission. From these there 

 were hatched and reared to the fourth stage 84,896 young lobsters, 

 giving an average of somewhat over 1,500 per egg lobster. 



SUMMARY AND INTERPRETATION. 



Summarizing the actually obtained results of rearing lobster fry 

 to the fourth stage by the method herein described : Since the present 



