16 TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING 



which form a livino- skimming net, often a mile in breadth. 

 The menhaden, as is well-known are in turn captured by the 

 steam sailing vessels in countless numbers. I think it is per- 

 fectly justifiable to ascribe the rapid increase in the number of 

 starfish to the rapid decrease in the number of their natural 

 enemies, through the destructive methods of steam seining. 



For several years the clam industry of the north has rapidly 

 deteriorated. A survey of the literature reveals a deplorable 

 condition of ignorance respecting the breeding habits of the 

 clam, its rate of growth, time of sexual maturity, food, ene- 

 mies, etc. Professor J. L. Kellogg was engaged to investigate 

 the entire question. He worked at Woods Hole and in Narra- 

 gansett Bay, and rej)orted to the Rhode Island Commission. 

 The results of his labors shoAv: 



1. That there is an abundance of young clams. During July 

 the shores are literally covered. 



2. These young clams are destroyed by young stars, which 

 appear on the shores at about the same time that the clams ap- 

 pear. 



3. The young clams take kindly to artificial rearing. 



4. The rate of growth is rapid. 



With these data the Rhode Island Commission has seriously 

 undertaken artificial clam culture, and the experiments thus 

 far made have fully warranted their expenditures. When one 

 considers that an acre of clam land would probably produce 

 174,240 clams, which at six cents each (the price at which they 

 were selling in New York last March) would yield |10,454, the 

 relative productivity of clam beds in New England and orange 

 groves in Florida becomes impressive. 



Perhaps no industry is more in need of intelligent treatment 

 at the present time than the lobster industry. During the past 

 three of four years lobsters have become increasingly infre- 

 quent, and unless something is done to change the curve of 

 destruction or elevate the curve of production, a few years will 

 see the animal exterminated. 



The eggs strip])ed from the female readily develop and hatch 

 in ]\[cDonald jars, but the young quickly perish undei' the un- 

 natural environmental conditions of the hatchery. The mere 

 planting in the ocean of the young during their free-swimming 

 stages is of questionable value, although it is to be commended 

 so long as egg lobsters are sent to market or strii)ped by the 

 fishermen to evade the payment of justifiable fines. 



If the young could be artificially brooded until they reach 

 the fourth stage, when they are in the habit and structure 

 more like the adult, they would be more likely to flourish after 

 their liberation from the hatchery, and the industry might then 

 become rehabilitated. During the present season we have 



