REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 37 



Experiments with Lobsters in Later Stages. — We have carried out 

 to a practical solution the problem which has always been considered 

 the most difficult and at the same time the crucial problem of lobster 

 culture, the protecting of the young lobsters through the first three 

 moulting periods. Following this naturally comes the problem of 

 protecting the lobsters in the later stages. The successful solution 

 of the first problem has depended mainly upon knowing the habits 

 and requirements of the young fry, and the solution of the next prob- 

 lem must depend upon a similar acquaintance with the habits and 

 requirements of the lobster in the later stages. For several years 

 we have made observations on these later stages and have published 

 some of the results in previous reports. 



Even after the lobsters have been reared to the fourth stage their 

 future chances of life depend, in some degree, on the time, place, and 

 manner of their liberation. Thus far it has seemed best to liberate 

 them in the morning, so that they may find hiding places and settle 

 themselves before night falls ; to select places along the shore which 

 provide hiding places ; and to scatter them over a considerable extent 

 of territory, so they may not gather in a conspicuous swarm. 



In order to study the habits and requirements of the lobster at 

 these later stages we have for several years reserved some of those 

 which have reached the fourth stage and placed them in cars. Sand, 

 stones, shells, and sea-weed were put into the cars to give as nearly 

 as possible a natural environment, They seem to thrive in the cars, 

 and a good deal has been learned of their habits. They were fed 

 occasionally on chopped clams, fish, and several other varieties of 

 food. They are always cannibals, but tend to outgrow the bad habit. 



Three general facts were brought to light by these experiments: 

 First, at least some of the specimens reared in this way grew as fast 

 as some specimens under natural conditions; for lobsters taken at 

 Wood's HoU in early summer were smaller than some of our speci- 

 mens a year old. Now those taken at Wood's Holl could not pos- 

 sibly have been of that same season's hatching, and consequently 

 must have been hatched at least a year before. Second, the rate of 



