REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 33 



VIII. Experiments in Lobster Culture. 



The main effort of the commission in the scientific work was di- 

 rected last summer to the further perfecting of the methods of lobster 

 culture. Considerable changes were made in the transmission gear 

 of the stirring apparatus used in hatching eggs and rearing the lob- 

 sters from the first to the fourth stage. The worm gears were re- 

 placed by matched gears, the universal joints were improved, and a 

 new form of sliding shaft invented. Larger gears were substituted 

 for the old ones where the main shafts meet the propeller shafts, ad- 

 justable hangers with babbitted bearings were substituted for the 

 small pillow blocks, a device for throwing out of gear each propeller 

 separately was invented and put in operation, and the side floats were 

 extended so as to hold four additional hatching bags. Some changes 

 were made in the manner of inserting the screen windows in the bot- 

 tom and sides of the bags. All of these alterations turned out to be 

 improvements and worked satisfactorily. 



One scheme intended for an improvement turned out to be a la- 

 mentable failure. It was a framework of galvanized gas piping put 

 together and set into the bags for the purpose of holding down the 

 bottoms. When the paddles are revolving the upward current of 

 water tends to lift the bottom of the bag in the middle, although it 

 is, of course, held down along the edges. The framework referred to 

 seemed to work admirably for the first two or three weeks. When, 

 just as the first lot of young lobsters was coming into the fourth 

 stage, it was observed that their numbers suddenly diminished 

 with distressing rapidity inside the bags; at the same time many 

 young lobsters were observed swimming around outside the bags. 

 The internal framework had chafed holes in the canvas bags and these 

 had escaped detection, as they were concealed by the framework 

 and were several feet under the surface of the not very clear water. 

 This disheartening discovery was made on the 13th of June, almost 

 exactly in the middle of the hatching season. The accident dimin- 



