REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. IS 



appear in ten to twelve days, and a total of 9,635 individuals, or 

 48 per cent, of young lobsters of the earliest bottom-stage, were 

 counted out. 



On June 28th and 29th, 1905, from a like experiment with 20,000 

 of the first stage, 8,178, that is, 40.8 per cent., were obtained. 



Since no special care was taken in these two experiments, they 

 can be regarded as typical. Already earlier, with a smaller ex- 

 periment number, higher figures had been obtained; e. g., in 1901, 

 from 1,000 new-born, 500 of the fourth stage, that is, 50 per cent. 



At any rate it can be regarded as settled that at no experiment 

 made earlier and elsewhere has any approach to this result been 

 attained, and that the methods adopted by Dr. Mead must be a 

 pattern for all further attempts that shall be made in this field. 

 It may safely be asserted that the setting free of over 100,000 young 

 lobsters of the first bottom-stage — the result of the labors of 1905 — 

 lifts the whole work above the plane of experiment; for these thou- 

 sands have more value for the improvement of the local lobster 

 situation than as many millions of larvae of the first stage, with 

 the setting free of which w^e had previously to be satisfied. With 

 the taking up of life on the bottom the great dangers that threaten 

 the life of the young lobster are chiefly over. 



Whether the setting free of these lobsters has exerted a perceptible 

 influence upon conditions on the shores of Rhode Island, appears 

 somewhat questionable. I should hesitate to raise the question at 

 all had not such a conscientious and discriminating investigator as 

 Dr. Meatl felt called upon to state that the fishermen had reported 

 the appearance of a great number of small lobsters which the traps 

 Would not yet hold, but which slipped out when the traps were raised. 



The possibility of a connection between these small lobsters and 

 those set free in recent years can not be denied. 



If one looks back upon the peculiarities of the American method 

 of lobster hatching, everything seems so simple and self-evident 

 that the question arises why this path was not travelled before. 

 On the other hand the very simplicity of execution makes the affair 



