American Fisheries Society. 165 
second stage. The 21 per cent was obtained in an experiment 
beginning with 3,000 (estimated) fry in the first stage. 
A higher percentage has been obtained at Wickford with 
a smaller number; for example, 50 per cent. fourth stage lob- 
sters were obtained from a lot of 1,000 in 1901, but in order to 
make the results practical they must be conducted on a larger 
scale. 
The question of course arises are the efforts of the Rhode 
Island Commissioners in thus rearing and planting lobster fry 
apparent in an increase of lobsters in the waters of the state? 
The time has hardly come to answer this question. From our 
experiments it has been determined that it requires some five 
or six years for a lobster to attain a size of nine inches or more 
and the planting of fry has not been carried on as yet on a large 
scale for that length of time. However, in the vicinities where 
these lobsters were liberated, the lobster fishermen report that, 
for the last two winters young lobsters of about eight inches in 
length were abundant along the shore many of them being dug 
up by the clam diggers and by ourselves, and it is said that 
small lobsters have not been seen in abundance in these locali- 
ties for twenty vears. The lobster fry planted by this Commis- 
sion should be about as large as these young lobsters by this 
time, and it seems probable that this large supply of voung 
lobsters is the result of the efforts of the Commission. Again 
this past spring the lobster fishermen report a surprising abun- 
dance of young lobsters too small to be held in their pots. When 
the pots were pulled the little fellows scampered out between 
the slats. It certainly looks as though in a few years more, 
with continued efforts on the part of the Commission, the 
lobster industry of the state, now so dangerously near total ex- 
tinction, might be rescued. 
We feel that the efforts of the Rhode Island Commission 
have meet with success. There are many difficulties to be over- 
come, and many chances for improvement. Among the sub- 
jects to be further investigated is that of the proper food for the 
fry. We at present feed finely chopped clams. At Wood's Holl 
finely chopped fish was used. Neither one is a perfect food. 
With improvement in the food probably a larger percentage 
could be raised to the fourth stage and in less time. 
