REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 35 



1. On June 16 and 17, 20,000 in the first stage were counted and 

 placed in one bag. The "fours" began to appear in eleven days and 

 all that lived reached this stage before the end of the sixteenth day. 

 6,631 lobsters in the fourth stage were counted from this bag; a 

 yield of 33.1 per cent. 



2. On June 16 and 17, also, 30,000 were counted into an adjacent 

 bag. These promised an ec[ually good result until near the end of the 

 experiment, when the screen window was accidentally cut with a 

 knife and nearly all the lobsters escaped. The final yield was only 

 1,446, or 4.8 per cent. 



3. On June 29-30 and July 1, 16,599 young fry, most of them in 

 the first stage, were counted into one bag. From this lot 7,343 in 

 the fourth stage w^ere counted; a yield of 44.2 per cent. 



These three experiments illustrate very well the general results of 

 the season's work, as there was no extraordinary care given them nor 

 were they conducted under especially favorable conditions. 



The proportionate yield is large as compared with that of other 

 stations. The largest of these reported heretofore is 6.6 per cent.; 

 Appelof, of Norway; and 21 per cent, at Wood's Holl, where the 

 Wickford apparatus was used.* 



A higher percentage has been obtained at Wickford with a smaller 

 number; for example, 50 per cent, fourth stage lobsters were obtained 

 from a lot of 1,000 in 1901, but in order to make the results practical 

 they must be conducted on a larger scale. 



A sketch of the habits of the young lobster and an account of the 

 several years' experiments undertaken for the jourpose of obtaining 

 a practical method of rearing the fry through the early period of life, 

 usually recognized as the critical period in which the greatest mor- 

 tality occurs, were given in last year's report. Our aim has always 

 been to discover a method which should be effective and to devise 

 an apparatus which should be reasonably cheap and capable of ex- 



*The 6.6 per cent, was obtained as an experiment, beginning with 1,500 fry in the second 

 stage. The 21 per cent, was obtained in an experiment beginning with 3,000 (estimated) fry 

 in the first stage. 



