74 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



IX. Experiments in Lobster Culture. 



In the report for 1902 we submitted, under this heading, an article 

 in which were brought together the results of our investigations of 

 the lobster and the methods of its propagation up to that date, to- 

 gether with other observations, made by Herrick, Bumpus, etc., 

 which have a direct bearing on the subject. We may refer, therefore, 

 to the last report for a discussion of the following subjects: the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the lobster, and its distribution relative to 

 the depth of the water; its breeding habits, including the time, place, 

 and frequency of breeding, manner of depositing and caring for the 

 eggs, number of eggs deposited, and the method of their disperse- 

 ment; age and size attained before breeding begins, and the numeri- 

 cal proportion of males and females; the habits of the young fry, 

 their movements, their food and manner of feeding, their natural 

 enemies, their adjustment to physical conditions, such as tempera- 

 ture and density of water, their rate of growth, manner and fre- 

 quency of moulting, the changes in structure and habits which ac- 

 company the early moults; the habits and requirements of the young 

 lobsters which have passed through the earhest stages; the rate of 

 growth and age of lobsters up to the marketable size; the migration 

 of adult lobsters along the shore and to and from the waters of ad- 

 joining States; their migrations to and from deep water; the rate of 

 growth of large lobsters, and the extreme age to w^hich lobsters 

 may live and breed; the problems of hatching the eggs artificially 

 in such a manner as to increase the natural number of fry, and of de- 

 positing the newly hatched fry where the conditions are more fav- 

 orable than those which surround them when deposited naturally; 

 the possibility, feasibiHty, and the methods of confining, feeding, and 

 Ijrotecting the young fry until they can take care of themselves 

 much better than when they are first hatched; and the possibility, 

 feasibility, and methods of rearing the lobsters from the egg to 

 maturity in confinement. 



