162 Thirty-fourth Annual Meeting. 
feet square and four feet deep. Each bag has in it a two- 
bladed propeller, or “paddle,” revolving about ten times per 
minute, which creates an upward whirling current of water 
strong enough to keep the fry and particles of food suspended. 
The vertical shaft of each propeller is geared to one of three 
longitudinal horizontal shafts; these, in turn, to a transverse 
shaft which is belted to a two-and-one-half horse power gasoline 
engine. Each paddle shaft can be thrown out of gear by a lever. 
The transverse shafts of the somewhat movable floats are coupled 
to the one running across the house boat by a universal joint 
and sliding shaft. The latter is a square shaft in two pieces 
sliding in a sleeve which is cast in two pieces for the sake of 
economy in manufacture. A drive of 75 feet of shafting is 
required to reach the farthest paddles, and the bed for the 
shafts is not, by any means, an example of modern “mill con- 
struction.” Indeed the floats are constantly bending with the 
motion of the water, and also warp more or less. The shafts 
also are almost continually bending, but as they are compara- 
tively light no trouble results from the lack of rigid construc- 
tion and the transmission is very satisfactory. 
The improvements in this phase of lobster culture, namely, 
that of hatching and rearing to the fourth stage, will, it seems 
to us, be mainly in the construction of the bags, the feeding of 
the lobsters, and the prevention of parasitic growth. The lat- 
ter difficulty, however, is not so serious at Wickford as it was 
at Wood’s Holl. Undoubtedly the percentage of yield can be 
raised by experimentation along these lines. 
It is interesting to trace the actual results of these im- 
provements in apparatus. In the year 1899 in the floating 
scrim bags at Wood’s Holl Doctor Bumpus succeeding in rear- 
ing about one hundred lobsterlings to the fourth stage. This 
was one hundred more than had been reared to that stage pre- 
viously by any method. In 1900 at Wickford 3,425 fry were 
reared to the lobsterling stage and 748 of these came from one 
experiment which was stirred with an oar night and day. This 
latter number was more than had been reared previously by 
the combined efforts at all other localities. With the mechanical 
device of 1901 the number reached 8,974; in 1902, 27,300; in 
1903, 13,500; in 1904, 50,597. The total number for the pres- 
