REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 5 



use in hatching and rearing lobsters. Several large floats and num- 

 erous cars further contribute to an excellent working equipment. 

 A small cottage, situated near the houseboat, has been leased, 

 which enables the commission to carry on the work during the winter 

 when the cove is full of ice. In the cottage a photographing room 

 has been fitted up. Necessary books and microscopes have been, 

 from time to time, loaned to the commission by Brown University. 



The foundation of a Museum of Economic Zoology has been laid. 

 A collection of specimens and models arranged to illustrate the im- 

 portant features of the experimental work has been assembled at 

 the office of the commission at the Capitol, and will be exhibited also 

 at the International Exposition at St. Louis. 



The body of this Report contains an account of the work of the 

 commission, but there are two or three particular features of this 

 work to which your attention is especially invited. The investiga- 

 tion of the natural history and propagation of the clam has resulted 

 in the first definite information concerning the spawning season, 

 habits of the young clams, the age at sexual maturity, rate of growth 

 and time rec}uired to reach a good marketable size, methods of spat 

 collecting, transplanting, etc., and during the past year the first 

 crop of artificially bred clams has been produced. In one of the 

 beds reserved for experimental purposes small seed clams, meas- 

 uring about 10,000 to a quart, were sown broadcast upon the ground 

 two years ago, and their growth has been observed from time to time. 

 This bed, which contains about one and two-thirds acres, was opened 

 to the public during the past summer, and upwards of six hundred 

 bushels of clams have been taken from it. A sample area of about 

 300 square feet in this bed yielded 17 bushels, which is equivalent 

 to more than 2,000 bushels to the acre. (See Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4.) 



The most valuable result of the investigations of your commission 

 is a successful and practicable method of raising lobsters through 

 the dangerous swimming period, which immediately follows the 

 hatching of the fry. That this is the crucial point in lobster propa- 

 gation is universally recognized, and experiments have been made 



