122 COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



rearing will be lost. Three methods will be spoken of: the liberation 

 of the fourth stage lobsters along the shore, the liberation of fifth 

 and later stages, and the liberation by means of specially devised ears. 



LIBERATION OF THE FOURTH STAGE LOBSTER ALONG THE SHORE. 



By this method as fast as the fry reach the fourth stage they are 

 clipped out and put by themselves in a retaining car. As soon 

 as a sufficient number has been collected they are transported to the 

 place where they are to be liberated, in large galvanized iron cans 

 with a loose cover over the top. A suitable shore, one composed 

 of rocks, with a growth of short eel-grass or seaweed of some sort, is 

 selected, and the young lobsters poured out just at the water's edge 

 (Plate XXIII.) The morning is the best time for transporting and 

 liberating them. If the time during transportation is long, a tight 

 can with ice may be suspended in the can containing the lobsters; 

 but where there is to be only one or two hours confinement in the 

 can, care in keeping it from the sun and frequently aeration of the 

 water by stirring, is all that will be necessary. 



The above plan is the result of experience. At first the lobsters 

 were liberated at the surface of rather deep water, over a rocky 

 ledge. The fry, when poured out, would sink for some distance, and 

 then the greater part would rise and swim about. Just how long this 

 swimming was continued is not known. But instances occurred 

 where individual lobsters, which had some distinguishing mark, as 

 the absence of a claw or a peculiar tuft of diatomaceous growth, have 

 been liberated by accident near the houseboat, and have been observed 

 for several days, swimming from one beam of the float to another, 

 though the bottom was only from six to ten feet distant. It is hardly 

 needful to comment on this method of liberation. Tautog abounding 

 around such ledges would scarcely allow such an opportunity to go 

 by without taking advantages of it. Perhaps few lobsterlings would 

 ever become established in safe retreats. 



Profiting by this experience, the idea of liberating on the shore 

 was tried. Here another distinction between favorable and unfavor- 



