REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 19 



given to the young lobsters. Many fry were sacrificed in some of the 

 experiments, but this would by no means account for the decrease in 

 output. In spite of the special ^^reparations and careful attention, 

 a combination of adverse climatic conditions balked the attempt to 

 surpass previous records. The previous fall and winter had been 

 unusually mild, so that the eggs matured and began to hatch some 

 two weeks before their usual time. At first this gave great encourage- 

 ment, but during June the weather was exceptionally cold and wet 

 and the fry developed with extreme slowness, taking nearly twice 

 the usual time to reach the bottom stage. This had the double dis- 

 advantage of giving the fry twice the opportunity to devour one 

 another and of keeping the cars occupied so that newly hatched fry 

 could not be handled to advantage. As though to put the finishing 

 touch to the adverse conditions, the temperature rose suddenly during 

 the last of the hatching season, so that all remaining eggs were hatched 

 long before the normal time, thus cutting short a valuable part of the 

 season. 



CONTINUED INVESTIGATION. 



For more than ten years your Commissioners have systematically 

 and continuously conducted scientific investigations of fisheries 

 problems. They have through their work won a creditable place 

 among the Commissions and scientific bodies at home and abroad, 

 and have been fortunate in getting many results of immediate practi- 

 cal application as well as laying foundations for final results. 



Besides the investigations recorded in previous reports of your 

 Commission, and those outlined in the present report, there are in 

 progress a series of investigations upon the identification of the 

 young and the rate of growth of the fishes and invertebrates of 

 economic value. In order to control the conditions of artificial 

 propagation or of natural increase these problems must be solved. 

 There is no evident reason why, for example, the set of clarns and 

 oysters must forever be left as a matter of chance. Control of the 



