flS INLAND FISHERIES. 



before the close of the season the results obtained were more en- 

 couraging. Several lobsters were actually raised to that stage 

 when the characters of the adult are assumed — the fourth molt, 

 Figure 4. These young lobsters were raised in a car of somewhat 

 novel design, but so arranged that the water after flowing into the 

 car has a considerable amount of motion. The fry were fed upon 

 shreded codfish, which contains a sufficient amount of air to cause 

 it to descend only slowly through the water, and it thus be- 

 comes an attractive object to the young animals, which quickly 

 follow any moving object. At times minute pieces of fresh fish 

 were greedily devoured, and the writer has repeatedly seen the 

 young animals follow the scent, wdiich has been left in the sea 

 water by a piece of slowly descending fish, until several pounced 

 upon the object when it finally reached the bottom of the 

 aquarium. 



The results of the season's experiments are such as to warrant 

 a continuation of the Avork. We know perfectly well that many 

 others have failed in doing what we attempt, but until we are 

 thoroughly convinced that the young lobster cannot l)e " brooded," 

 we propose to continue our work. 



XII. The extension of the commercial f.^tlteriei^ of the State through 

 the discovery of neui localities for food fsh. 



The extension of the commercial fisheries of the State through 

 the discovery of neAv localities for food fish at first imjiression 

 would appear absurd in a locality so well known as are the waters 

 of Rhode Island, but only a short distance to the south (a distance 

 that can readily be covered by an ordinary sailing vessel in a 

 single night) are the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, and a mem- 

 ber of the State Commission has conducted several expeditions, 

 in the United States Fish Commission Schooner " Grampus," to 

 the edge of the continental plateau, for the purpose of determin- 

 ing the presence of a valuable food fish discovered there some 

 years ago, but since supposed to have become extinct. These 



