REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 43 
immature lobsters and the destruction of egg-bearing females are 
being realized. Means more efticient for the annihilation of the 
lobster could scarcely be devised than those now employed. It is 
legal to capture and kill at all times of the year, and the animals 
are destroyed illegally without respect to size or sex. The spawn 
of the few egg-bearing lobsters which approach our shores from 
the deeper water is combed from the appendages, destroyed, and 
the sterile mother carried to the market. 
With an important industry thus threatened with early extine- 
tion, the Commission has adopted the only means within its power 
to ward off the calamity. It has continued the experiments be- 
gun in 1898, which were described in its twenty-ninth report. 
Early in May a member of your commission, and two assistants, 
established themselves at Woods Hole, receiving an unlimited 
number of lobster-fry from the government hatchery. It has been 
suggested often that if the fry could be placed in a small bay of 
salt water and protected from their enemies, they would doubt- 
less flourish and come to maturity. Through the kindness of 
Camillus G. Kidder, Esq., a small enclosure was placed at our dis- 
posal, the bottom was carefully cleaned, a dike was built to make 
the enclosure more secure, and after repeated seinings we con- 
sidered the enclosure freed of animals that might prey upon the 
fry. After testing the temperature and specific gravity of the 
water, several thousand lobster-fry were liberated, but on the fol- 
lowing day not a single one could be found. The young seemed 
to perceive the slightest movement of the water, and following the 
current, probably passed out through the minute crevices in the 
embankment. The further possibility of their escaping in this 
manner was then prevented by placing lengths of scrim across 
the openings; but the fry would attach themselves to the cloth, at 
the ebb of the tide, and, there entangled, would become exposed 
to the sun and perish. Repeated experiments convinced us that 
until we could find a larger natural enclosure, further work in this 
direction would be profitless. 
The importance of suitable and sufticient food was emphasized 
