58 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



large lobsters, and the extreme age to which lobsters may live and 

 breed. 



Besides these questions, additional ones confront us in any 

 attempt to overcome the abnormal conditions which the excessive 

 fishing- for lobsters has created : for example, the problems of 

 hatching- the eggs artificially in such a manner as to increase the 

 natural number of fry, and of depositing the newly hatched fry 

 where the conditions are more favorable than those which sur- 

 round them when deposited naturally ; the possibility, feasi- 

 bility, and the methods of confining, feeding, and protecting the 

 young fry until they can take care of themselves much better 

 than when they are first hatched ; and the possibility, feasibility, 

 and methods of rearing the lobsters from the egg to maturity in 

 confinement. Upon the solutions of such problems will depend 

 the future of a great fishing industry in which Rhode Island, be- 

 cause of her location, is particularly interested. 



Of the problems enumerated above, those referring to the hab- 

 its of the fry, to the rate of growth, and methods of rearing the fry 

 from the earliest stages to the adult, have especially engaged 

 the attention of this commission. In order to render intelligible 

 the work of the past season, we must briefly review some of the 

 facts already published. 



Geographical D'i sf r'ih ut 'nti i, and Distribution Relative to Depth of 



\\'<tter. — The lobster ranges from Labrador to Delaware, and in- 

 habits the waters from the very shore to a depth of more than 100 

 fathoms. " It is thus confined to a strip of the Atlantic Ocean 

 about 1,300 miles long, and at some points (as the coast of 

 Maine) from 30 to upwards of 50 miles wide." (Herrick.) 



Breeding Habits. — The eggs are laid, for the most part, in 

 the late summer, July and August, but the la}ang season varies 

 within certain limits according to the latitude, and frequently 

 extends into the fall and winter in the case of certain indi- 

 viduals. The eggs arc cat ricd, through the winter and spring, 

 under the tail of the females, attached to the swimmerets, and the 

 hatching begins in May and ends about the middle of July. The 



