American Fisheries Suciely. ."i") 



niiif^t be kept constantly in motion so that the fry cannot sink, 

 and so that the particles of food may Ijc kept suspended and 

 within the reach of the fry. This was suggested by the study of 

 the movement and habits of the fry in confinement at Wickford. 

 late in the season of 1900. Accordingly the last fry of that .s?a- 

 son (which, by the way, were a poor lot), were kept in motion 

 by means of an oar, and the great increase in the proportion 

 reared to the lobsterling stage was most encouraging. 



In 1901 the stirring was done by means of slowly rotating 

 propellers, which were placed in the cars and moved by a gaso- 

 line engine. The percentage carried through the swimming 

 stages was raised, from a fraction of one per cent in the experi- 

 ments of previous years, to fifty ]x'r cent in some cases. 



In 1903 this apparatus was improved and extended, but the 

 same principle was made use of, viz : that of stiiTing the propel- 

 lers, and the results were far ahead of any of those of previous 

 years. 



In the first two years of the experiments, before the stirring 

 method was used, less than 100 fry were carried through to the 

 lobsterling stage. At Wickford the record of experiments is as 

 follows : 



In 1900, when the stirring with an oar was first tried, the 

 yield was about 3,000. 



Ill IIXU, with the introduction of machinery, 10,000. 



Ill 1 !•<)•>. with the improved machinery, 30,000. 



The number of fry received during these years was dimin- 

 ished each year. 



In 1900 the main problem Ix-fore us was to devise an appara 

 tns in which the lobster fry could be carried through the swim- 

 mi ng stages in large numbers and in good proportion, and this 

 problem has been solved. Incidentally, we ndglit say that the 

 api)aratus is also eil'ective in hatching lobster eggs. In design- 

 ing the apparatus we have kept constantly in mind the possibility 

 of its installation in any ])rotccted estuary on any desired scale. 

 and at a comparatively small cost. All that is required in th. 

 wav of an experiment station is a series of skeleton floats buoyed 

 up bv l)arrels or otherwise; the floats may be coupled together 

 and slroimlv moored. Tli.' >bafting for transniilting tb.' power 



