REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 55 
of these stages is the so-called fourth stage, attained by the 
lobster fry after it has shed its skin three times. This stage is 
important because it represents the period when the young lob- 
ster is able to protect and defend itself very much better than 
in the earlier stages; and it has been the effort of the United 
States Fish Commission and your commission to rear the lobsters 
in large quantities to this fourth stage. In the subsequent stages 
illustrated by the specimens, the important features are the aver- 
age rate of growth and the difference in the rate of growth of 
different individuals. Several other specimens illustrated the 
manner of the shedding of the skin of the lobster. This collection 
of specimens was exhibited in a new solid preserving medium— 
the formula for which has not yet been published. The value of 
this medium is that it makes it possible to suspend the specimens 
at any level in the exhibition jar, without the use of threads or 
strings. 
IV. This section consisted of a series of specimens of the star- 
fish—the most effective and dangerous enemy of the oyster and the 
scallop—and was arranged to show the rapidity with which the 
star-fish attains its growth under favorable conditions, and also to . 
show the great variation which may take place in the growth of 
the star-fish according to different conditions of its food-supply, 
ete. It also contained specimens illustrating the peculiar char- 
acter of the larval star-fish, which are destroyed in such immense 
numbers by the menhaden, and the manner of setting the larval 
star-fish and its transformation into the form of the adult. — 
V. Several specimens of oysters were shown in this section, for 
the purpose of illustrating the rate of growth of the oyster. The 
specimens showed the average size of oysters for the first four 
years of their growth, and some exhibits of extreme age from 
twelve to fifteen years. These specimens were furnished by the 
Kickemit River Oyster Company, and the age of the large speci- 
mens was vouched for by one who had planted them from twelve 
to fifteen years ago. 
VI. In this ‘section there were exhibited three interesting 
