REPORT DF commissioners OF INLAND FISHERIES. 97 



The solution of the difficult problem of rearing newly hatched fry 

 to the fourth or fifth stage has been reached by first carefully investi- 

 gating the habits and requirements of the lobsters in these early 

 stages. There are several questions upon which more information is 

 needed in perfecting the already practical methods. Among them 

 are the questions of the natural food and that of the responses to 

 light. The next steps in the problem of lobster culture naturally 

 concern the later periods of growth. Your commission has already 

 investigated several questions concerning the life history during this 

 period. The investigation of the rate of growth in the later adoles- 

 cent stages has showed some unexpected results, particularly that 

 the rate varies extremely in different individuals. What is the cause 

 of this? This is of course a most important question in lobster culti- 

 vation, because the differences in growth sometimes amount to 50 

 per cent, or 100 per cent. Success or failure in the commercial 

 enterprise of lobster culture might easily depend upon this one 

 factor. 



Our investigations have shown the influence of at least two factors 

 upon the rate of growth. One of these, the amount of food, might 

 be expected to be influential, though hardly to the extent to which 

 it is. The other, regeneration of lost limbs, influences growth to an 

 unexpected extent, and in a manner which is less obvious but none 

 the less real. 



The following papers are submitted by members of our staff as 

 contributions to the scientific data concerning the lobster in various 

 stages of development. 



