364 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



better breeders in a growing and protected class, the 

 animals which produce eggs by the twenty, forty and eighty 

 thousand at a time. Stop the wasteful process of hatching 

 the eggs and turning the helpless larvae into the sea, but 

 rear them, if possible, to the bottom-seeking stage, and then 

 distribute them with the greatest care, as the Commission 

 for Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island has wisely done 

 through the efforts of Dr. Mead and his associates. What 

 the rate of survival may be in the lobster at the fourth or 

 fifth stage, when it seeks the bottom of its own accord, with 

 brand new powers and instincts fitted to cope successfully 

 with its environment, is not known, but it is safe to assume 

 that it is a hundredfold, perhaps a thousand fold, greater 

 than in the helpless state in which it leaves its mother and 

 seeks the dangerous surface of the open sea. 



DISCUSSION 



Mr. J. W. TiTCOMB, Lyndonville, Vt. : I was very much interested in 

 that paper and am entirely in accord with it. I think it has been 

 demonstrated that the lobster can be reared to the fourth stage in the 

 latitude of Maine just as easily as in the latitude of Rhode Island. It 

 struck me that in Maine, where the difficulties of rearing are almost 

 insurmountable owing to cost, it might be feasible to rear a portion to 

 the fourth stage and to confine the plant of this portion to a certain 

 part of the coast and other plants to another part of the coast, and 

 watch results. It might be some indication as to the comparative results 

 of planting millions of fry and planting a much smaller number of 

 fourth stage lobsters on another part of the coast. The Bureau of 

 Fisheries has found out that it can rear lobsters in Maine and I hope 

 the work will be continued. 



Mr. C. W. Willard, Westerly, R. I. : The Rhode Island Fish Com- 

 mission through its superintendent has sent a paper to this meeting 

 that will touch upon the very points named in the paper just read, 

 which I appreciated highly and enjoyed Hstening to very much. I did 

 not intend to have the paper read this afternoon for the reason that it 

 seemed to me that there was sufficient outside of this paper to take up 

 the attention of the meeting. However, if there is sufficient time, I 

 think perhaps the members would be interested to hear this very short 

 paper written by our superintendent, Mr. Barnes. The secretary has 

 the paper. 



