120 COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



The practice of feeding the fry as frequently during the night as 

 during the day, i. e., every two hours, has been carried on at Wick- 

 ford. The kind of food used is determined, not so much by the 

 preference of the lobster, as by the requirements of the scheme of 

 rearing. The fry feed quite as readily on one kind of food as another. 

 The articles which may be used as food, in order of their value, are 

 hens eggs, soft shell clams, beef (cooked and raw), liver, fish, fly 

 larvae, mussels, shredded codfish, copepods, etc. 



Hens eggs, fried without grease and finely pulverized, is the best 

 and most economical food that has been found at present. Its 

 light color attracts the fry, and the fact that immediately after feeding 

 them, particles of egg can be seen through the transparent shell of 

 nearly every lobster, is evidence of how readily they eat it. It is 

 not necessary to obtain fresh eggs and we have used quite satis- 

 factorily the " broken out " eggs, which are sold by the gallon. This 

 past season (1910) it was found most economical to buy the second 

 grade cold storage eggs by the case. In the first and second stages 

 the fry were fed eggs exclusively, but in the later stages it was the 

 practice to mix cooked beef and liver with the eggs. 



Soft-shelled clams, when available seem to be a very good food. 

 The advantages are lightness (requiring little current to keep it up 

 in the water), absence of oil, and less likelihood of decay. The fry 

 eat it very readily. The preparation of the clams consist in cutting 

 them from the shells and chopping them finely with a meat chopper. 

 The whole clam is usually employed, not even discarding the tough 

 snout, as the lobsters seem to pounce upon a piece of this almost as 

 quickly as upon the softer parts. Clam, however, is not as good nor 

 as economical as hens' eggs. 



Fish, perhaps, is as much preferred by the fry as anything; but it is 

 very oily and fills the water with grease. This interferes with obser- 

 vation, and is unfavorable to a healthy condition of the fry. More- 

 over, those particles which fall to the bottom of the car rapidly 

 decay and foul the water. 



It is the custom at Wickford to feed the fry every two hours 



