64 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



if they occur, is not at present known ; but occasionally lobsters 

 less than three inches long- are washed ashore by heavy gales in 

 midwinter, and this would indicate that all had not gone into deep 

 water. Such a phenomenon is recorded by Yinal Edwards, at 

 Woods Holl. On January 28, 1882, after a severe storm, Mr. Ed- 

 wards found many of these specimens on the shore at Nobska 

 Point, and on the point where the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion station now stands. Sixteen of them were preserved, and 

 their measurements recorded in Herrick's monograph, page 164. 



We have succeeded, in Wickford, in raising some of the lobsters 

 hatched in the summer of 1900 and 1901. These were carried 

 through the winter in cars, which were sunk in the channel at the 

 entrance of Mill Cove, at a depth of about eight to ten feet at 

 mean tide. The surface was often frozen over, and when the cars 

 were raised in the spring, the lobsters were subjected to compara- 

 tively fresh water (the density of the water in the cars on May 

 11, 1901, was only 1.0095, while the average density is about 

 1.020). In these experiments the cars were sunk in November 

 and not raised until spring, except in one instance. Some food 

 material probably entered the cars through the wire screening, 

 but other than this no provision was made for feeding the lob- 

 sters. They seemed not to have suffered from their long fast, and 

 when, on the occasion referred to, one of the cars was raised in the 

 latter part of December, thej^ were certainly in no mood for feed- 

 ing, but were so torpid with the cold that they could readily be 

 picked up with the hand. Those taken out for samples became 

 very lively when they were warmed. 



These observations prove conclusively that the conditions of 

 our more shallow estuaries meet the actual requirements of the 

 young lobsters the year round; and thejr pointalso to the conclu- 

 sion that perhaps the migration into deep water in the winter is 

 limited, and that their disappearance is in part due to the torpor 

 produced by the cold, which makes the animals at this time less in 

 evidence than during the wanner months. 



