REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 65 



Rate of Growtli of Young Lobsters Beyond the Fourth Stage. — 

 "We have attempted at Wickford to raise the young- lobsters from 

 the egg to maturity, iu order to determine not only their habits 

 and requirements at various stages and in various seasons, but to 

 ascertain as nearly as possible the normal rate of growth. The 

 experiments in this line were begun in 1900. A number of lob : 

 sters in the fourth stage were put into cars provided with sand, 

 gravel, seaweed, etc., to simulate as closely as possible the natural 

 environment. The sides of the cars were made of galvanized 

 iron screening, which allowed a free circulation of water. Dur- 

 ing the summer the cars were suspended from the house-boat, or 

 from floats, so that the water in them was about eighteen inches 

 deep. In the fall they were provided with tight-fitting covers, 

 and were sunk in the channel in from eight to ten feet of water 

 (see p. 64), and left undisturbed until spring. The lobsters were 

 frequently fed during the summer, but in the winter no food was 

 given them, although they may have obtained some from the 

 water or from the animals which grew in the car. The same 

 methods were pursued in succeeding seasons. The question at 

 once arises, does the rate of growth of these lobsters, kept in con- 

 finement, fairly represent the rate of growth in their natural envi- 

 ronment? It is impossible to answer this question definitely at 

 the present time, but the following facts have a bearing upon it. 

 The cars seemed to furnish a natural environment, for not odIv 

 were the lobsters in a healthy condition, but seaweed, oysters, 

 clams, mussels, shrimp, tunicates, barnacles, various specimens of 

 marine worms, and other animals grew inside of the cars as rap- 

 idly and normally as in other places. Other experiments have 

 proved that star-fishes, raised in similar cars, maintain a normal 

 rate of growth. 



More direct evidence may sometime be derived from a com- 

 parison of the size of lobsters in the cars at a certain age with 

 that of specimens caught at certain times of the year in lobster 

 pots, under stones, in the stomach of codfish, etc. The hatching 

 season of the lobster is, in our waters, apparently definite, and 



