58 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 



2 out of every 10,000 hatched, every million young would pro- 

 duce 10,000 adults, and every billion would yield 10,000,000 lob- 

 sters, capable of reproduction."^ 



While results somewhat similar to those outlined above have 

 been obtained in England and in other parts of Europe, signal 

 success in providing the young with a proper food supply and 

 in maintaining them in a healthy condition up to the lobsterling 

 stage has only been obtained in recent years in this country 

 through the admirable work of Messrs. Bumpus^ and Mead' and 

 their associates. These experiments were begun under the auspices 

 of the United States Eish Commission, at Wood's Hole, Mass., 

 in 1890, and were continued at other points on the coast, and 

 especially at Wickford, E. I., where, under the direction of Pro- 

 fessor Mead and of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries of 

 Ehode Island, the most efBcient apparatus yet devised for the 

 culture of lobsters has been gradually perfected and installed. 



Given a water supply which has been found by experiment to 

 offer favorable conditions for the growth of lobster larvae, and a 

 suitable food supply, such as minced clams, the apparatus mechan- 

 ically aerates the water, and at the same time holds both the lob- 

 sters and their food in suspension in the water with little detriment 

 to the larvae themselves. Some experiments have been lately con- 

 ducted by the United States Bureau of Fisheries at Boothbay 

 Harbor, Me. 



At an early stage in his work Professor Mead found that in no 

 case was the number of lobsters reared to the fourth stage less 

 than 16 per cent, of the total number of fry placed in the brood 

 chambers (scrim bags, or wooden boxes, as now in use). The 

 ratio of survival may even exceed 50 per cent. In 1901, between 

 9,000 and 10,000 lobsterlings were thus reared at the Wickford 

 station to the bottom-seeking stage; in 1908, between 300,000 

 and 400,000 fourth or fifth stage lobsters were reared and dis- 

 tributed on the coast. 



The rate of survival of the larvae up to the ambulatory stage is 

 not Imown, but it is certainly not greater than 1 in several thousand, 

 or a small fraction of 1 per cent. 



Instead of striving to work on the vast scale of nature in deal- 

 ing with the egg, this is an attempt to improve upon nature by 



1 Herrick, Francis H. : "The Habits and Development of the Lobster, and thdr Bearing 

 upon its Artificial Propagation." Bulletin of the United States Fish Commission tor 1893, 

 p. 86. Washington, 1894. 



' Bumpus. H. C. : "The Results attending the Experiments in Lobster Culture made by 

 the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries." Science, N. S., vol. 14, pp. 1013- 

 1015. New York, 1901. 



3 Mead, A. D. : " Experiments in Lobster Culture." Thirty-fourth Annual Report of the 

 Commissioners of Inland Fisheries of Rhode Island for 1904. Providence, 1904. (See also 

 later papers published in reports of the same commission for 1901 to 1903.) 



