144 tenth annual report of the 



Commissioners of Inland Fisheries 

 of Rhode Island. 



Providence, September 28, 1904. 

 John D. Whish, Secretary Forest, Fish and Game Commission, Albany, N. Y.: 



Dear Sir. — Our Secretary, Mr. Morton, has asked me to write you a 

 word concerning the results obtained in lobster culture and clam culture 

 at the floating station of the Commission of Inland Fisheries of this State, 

 located at Wickford. 



We have, during the past summer, improved and extended our appa- 

 ratus for hatching lobsters and rearing the young through the critical period 

 of development. We have reared, by actual count, about 48,000 lobsters 

 to the " fourth stage," or to the age of about two weeks. We also raised 

 probably 30,000 which, through an accident to the apparatus, were liber- 

 ated just before entering this stage. The percentage of young lobsters 

 which were successfully raised to this stage was, in one experiment, 33 per 

 cent., and in another 44 per cent. 



In the first of these experiments, 20,000 newly hatched young were 

 carefully counted and placed in one of the large canvas bags, and in the 

 second 16,000. The work of counting so many lobsters is so arduous that 

 only these two experiments were made for actual percentages. I think, 

 however, that they represent fairly well the usual results. 



Our lobster-rearing plant seems to have arrived at a practical stage, both 

 as regards the proportion of yield and capacity. The method is compara- 

 tively cheap and capable of indefinite extension, and, comparing our results 

 with those obtained in other countries, we feel that we are on the right 

 track and are sanguine of greater success in the future. There are many 

 evidences, from the increased number of small lobsters found in our bay, that 

 the influence of the lobster hatching work is already beginning to be felt. 



We have, also, during the past summer, planted many millions of small 

 clams, grading from one-eighth to one-half an inch in length. Our previous 

 experiments have demonstrated that, without question, clam culture is 

 quite as feasible and practical as oyster culture. 



In addition to these two lines of work, we have begun investigations of 

 the fauna and flora of Narragansett Bay, of the life history of certain other 

 food animals, of the new methods of hatching tautog and catfish, and have 

 carried on some statistical work in regard to fish-traps and their catches. 



Hoping that this may be of service to you, I am, 



Very truly yours, 



A. D. Mead. 



