REFORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 75 



five and six feet long were in the bay. Van Der Donck says, 

 ' those a foot long- were better for serving at table.' Truly, a lob- 

 ster six feet long would seem a little awkward to serve. W. Eddis, 

 in his ' Letters from America,' written in 1792, says these vast 

 lobsters were caught in New York waters, until revolutionary 

 days, when, ' since the late incessant cannonading, they have 

 entirely forsaken the coast, not one having been taken or seen 

 since the commencement of hostilities.' " So far as this commis- 

 sion has been able to ascertain, they have not yet returned. 



Artificial Hatching of Lobster Eggs and the Distribution of 

 Newly-Hatched Fry. — For years the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion has hatched at Woods Holl, at Glocester, and at some other 

 stations, many millions of eggs annually, and have set free the 

 young as soon as possible after they were hatched. The theory 

 which warrants this practice is, that the fry, which are thus dis- 

 tributed in deep water, are in less danger from their natural ene- 

 mies, which, like the mummychog and shrimp, abound in shallow 

 water. The apparatus used in hatching is the well-known McDon- 

 ald jar, into which the eggs are placed immediately after they 

 are " combed " from the females. In these they are kept swirling 

 sometimes for weeks, by a constant stream of salt water. We 

 have found that the apparatus described below, devised at our 

 floating laboratory for rearing the young fry, is equally good for 

 hatching eggs. It has also the advantage of the usual method in 

 the matter of simplicity and expense. 



The Possibility, Feasibility, and Methods of Protecting the 

 Newly- Hatched. Fry. — The steady decline of the lobster fishery, 

 notwithstanding the restrictive laws and the large output of 

 newly-hatched fry, emphasized the need of other methods. In 

 restocking streams with fish, the fry are not only hatched, but are 

 often raised for a time after hatching, and protected from their natu- 

 ral enemies during their early, most precarious period of life. There 

 are most excellent reasons why this method might be expected to 

 succeed in the case of the lobster : First, the fatal conspicuous- 

 ness of the lobster fry in the early stages ; and second, the sudden- 



