76 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



ness with which, at the third moult, the}' assume the new form 

 and habits which render them comparatively secure. The advis- 

 ableness of this procedure was long - ago recognized, and experi- 

 ments in this line were tried in many places ; but there were cer- 

 tain difficulties presented by the peculiar habits and requirements 

 of the fry which, until the last three years, proved unsurmount- 

 able. The main difficulties were those of confining and feeding 

 the fry, and of preventing the growth of parasites on the shell. 

 (See reports of the R. I. F. C. for 1899-1900-1901.) 



In 1898 Dr. H. C. Bumpus commenced a systematic re-investi- 

 gation of the whole problem. Experiments were carried on in 

 1898 and 1899 at Woods Holl, and in 1900 some of them were 

 transferred to the house-boat laboratory of the Rhode Island Fish 

 Commission at Wickford. Up to this time a great many devices 

 for enclosing the fry were tried, and proved to be impracticable, 

 aud the one which finally promised the best results was a scrim 

 bag, suspended in the water so that the movements of the tide and 

 wind would frequently change its shape and prevent the fry from 

 collecting too densely in any one place. The meshes of the scrim, 

 of course, allowed a free circulation of water through the bag; but 

 even in this apparatus, when the weather was calm, the lobster 

 fry, together with unused food, would settle into the pockets 

 which were made by the weights necessarily used to keep the bag 

 under water. When the weights were taken off, the least wind 

 would blow the bag out of the water, and this was very trying to 

 the young lobsters. Near the end of the season of 1900 a new 

 principle was applied, on which has depended in a large measure 

 the success of the subsequent work. 



" After making numerous experiments and watching the results 

 for about five weeks, we gradually came to the conclusion that the 

 secret of success in rearing the 3 r oung lobsters was to keep the 

 water in continuous motion. This accomplishes two things: it 

 prevents the fry from settling into pockets to smother or devour 

 one another, and it keeps food in suspension, so that the fry can 

 obtain it. 



