RECENT ADTANCES IN LOBSTER CULTURE. 



BY MR. A. D. MEAD 

 Of the Commission of Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island. 



When this Society hist met in Woods Hole in the summer of 

 1900, the Rhode Island Commission of Inland Fisheries, in col- 

 laboration with the United States Fish Commission, had just 

 begun a series of experiments in the propagation of lobsters, 

 which has been continued since that time with gratifying results. 



It is perfectly obvious to an\one in the least acquainted witli 

 the life history of the lobster, that its greatest need of protection 

 is during the first few weeks after hatching. The eggs them- 

 selves are very well protected by the female lobster until they are 

 hatched, and the young, after they begin their life at the bottom 

 of the sea, burrowing and hiding in holes and under rocks, are 

 comparatively secure. For about two weeks after hatching, how- 

 ever, they are compelled by nature to swim in the water, and dur- 

 ing this period their liability to destruction is not only gi-eater 

 than at any other ])eriod of life, but apparently greater than 

 that of the young of other sea animals. Their size and briglit 

 color make them conspicuous, they lack means of defence, and 

 the agility and, for that matter, the inclination, to avoid enemies. 



One further circumstance make it particularly advisable to 

 protect them at this time, viz: that the transition from the ]»r('- 

 cnrious swimming stages to th(> "lobsterling" stage, when they 

 hcgin lift" at the bottom, is abrupt. With the tliird moulting of 

 t.lie skin, the form and habits ol' the fry suddenly change, and the 

 free swimming fry becomes u\ about five minutes a crawling lob- 

 sterling. 



Tlie difficulty of confining newly hatched fry, of feeding 

 them, and of preventing cannil)alism, have bafiied the many at- 

 tempts wliich have frequently been made to protect them through 

 this period. Every conceivable soi't of car and enclosure has 

 been tried, with scant promise of success. The fry, left to them- 

 selves, are inevitably carried against the side of the enclosure, or 

 sink to the bottom, and perish. 



'I'he solution of this difficulty is a simple one. The water 



