460 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
out over theiu, and then, being soaked again with tbe sea- water, were arranged about 
them as before. Broken ice was also placed over each compartment to reduce the tem- 
perature, and pailfuls of salt-water were often poured over the boxes as they lay piled 
against the side of the car. No lobster died during the trip from Boston to Charles- 
town, but during the first two or three days after leaving the latter place a few were 
found dead at each examination. 
June 6, sixty lobsters were put into one of the large tanks with marine fishes, tbe 
water being continually aerated by a stream of air forced through a hose, and kept at a 
low temperature by ice piled upon the top of the tank. The next afternoon the lid of 
the tank was found to have fallen in, and all the lobsters and other fish it contained 
were dead, but the precise cause of the mortality was not discovered. 
From this time on, a large quantity of ice was kept piled upon the boxes contain- 
ing the remainder of the lobsters, but the mortality was very great, being generally 
equal to one-third or one-half the number at each examination. On June 8, th* fifth 
day of the trip, only twenty-five out of the one hundred and fifty with which the trip 
began were living. The reserve cask of 149 gallons of water was opened on this day, 
and they began to use the water from it instead of from the tank. June 9, the straw 
was taken from beneath the lobsters and they were packed entirely with sponges. 
This appeared to have a beneficial effect upon the few surviving specimens, and Mr. 
Perrin thinks that had this change not been made no lobsters would have reached San 
Francisco alive. June 11, when the water brought with them had become exhausted, 
a large supply of salt-water reached them from the Pacific coast, and gave them the 
means of treating the eight specimens then living with liberal doses and frequent 
changes. Two specimens were planted in Great Salt Lake, at Salt Lake City, and four 
specimens were put into the sea at Oakland Wharf, San Francisco Bay, June 12, just 
nine days after they had been taken from the water at Boston. These lobsters were 
all females and two were said to have been well supplied with spawn. 
Mr. Perrin’s report is full of useful suggestions, and it is interesting to note that 
some of the most important desiderata which he mentions in connection with his trip 
were supplied in the case of shipments four and five described below, and undoubtedly 
conduced to their successful issue. Mr. Perrin was obliged to place his ice partly in- 
side and partly on top of the lobster crates, in order to keep the temperature suffi- 
ciently reduced, but in these positions more or less of the fresh water resulting from 
the melting was absorbed by the sponges, and the lobsters were not constantly sur- 
rounded by the denser salt-water, which seems to be essential to their welfare, as proved 
by subsequent experiences. Mr. Perrin also refers to the currents of warm air which 
struck the sides of the boxes, especially when the car doors were open, and made it diffi- 
cult to maintain a uniform temperature. A serious mistake noted by Mr. Perrin was the 
subdividing of the boxes into narrow compartments, which entirely restricted the 
movements of the lobsters. A still more serious error, probably, was the use of straw 
and sponges for packing. While the latter is undoubtedly preferable to the former, in 
view of Mr. Perrin’s experiments, it packs too closely and prevents the circulation of 
air, which is now deemed necessary. Had rock-weed been used upon this trip instead 
of sponges it is probable that the results would have been much more gratifying. It 
is unfortunate that we have no record of temperatures in connection with this experi- 
ment, but it probably would have been difficult to have taken reliable temperature 
observations in boxes exposed as these were. 
