464 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
arranged on twelve small cloth-bottom trays, which were tied together in one package 
and stored in the ice-box close by the ice, being sprinkled twice daily with salt-water 
during the trip. The eight egg lobsters mentioned above died before reaching San 
Francisco, and their eggs were taken from them and added to those on the trays, making 
about 196,000.1oose eggs that were carried across. 
On the evening of June 15, the day on which the car reached Wood’s Holl, a quan- 
tity of ice was placed in the carrying tanks to reduce its temperature. The first of the 
trays were packed in the tanks about noon on the 16th, but by that time the tempera- 
ture was not as low as was desired. The second and final lot of trays was placed in 
the tanks about the middle of the afternoon of the same day. Fifty trays were arranged 
on each side of the car in piles of two and three, open spaces being left at the ends 
and in the middle of the tanks for the storage of ice. These spaces were completely 
filled with ice, and several thermometers were inserted at different places to record 
the temperature. The covers to the tanks were then lowered, and were only opened 
thereafter for the purposes of inspection or for wetting the lobsters. The tanks, how- 
ever, received some ventilation from the ends, especially when the car was in motion. 
The following necessary supplies were taken along: About 200 gallons of sea- 
water that had been filtered through raw cotton to remove all impurities. It was 
contained in twelve acid carboys and two large milk-cans, and remained pure to the 
end of the journey. A large quantity of coarse salt for making a freezing mixture 
with the ice, and also for preparing a brine to be used upon the lobsters in case the 
supply of sea- water became exhausted. The refrigerator was filled with ice before 
starting, and this necessary commodity had to be replenished at frequent intervals 
during the journey. 
Mr. John Jansen, of the Fish Commission station at Wood’s Roll, whose long 
experience in the handling of lobsters made his services invaluable in that particular, 
was detailed to accompany the car to San Francisco. The writer also made the journey 
as far as Chicago. The shipment was in charge of Mr. J. F. Ellis, assisted by Mr. R. 
S. Johnson and Mr. J. D. Trenholm, and to their unremitting labors is due the success 
of the undertaking. 
All the arrangements having been completed in time, the car left Wood’s Holl with 
the 4.10 p. m. train for Boston, where it arrived about 7.30 p. m. At Boston the car 
was attached to the Chicago express leaving at 9 p. m., and proceeding via the Boston 
and Albany, New York Central, Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroads. At the 
time of departure everything seemed auspicious, although the weather was rather 
warm. The lobsters had been thoroughly sprinkled with water just before leaving 
Wood’s Holl. There appeared to be an abundance of ice in the tanks, but no salt was 
mixed with it, as it was thought that the temperature could be kept sufficiently low 
without its use. This proved to be not the case, however. The bottom of the carry- 
ing tanks being only a few inches above the bed of the railroad, which had been greatly 
heated during the day, was too much influenced by the temperature outside, especially 
as some of the superheated air entered through the ends of the tanks in the manner 
already explained. 
The first inspection of the lobsters was made immediately after breakfast on the 
morning of June 17, between Syracuse and Rochester, New York. It occupied about 
two hours, a much longer time than had been anticipated, and the fact was soon 
recognized that the overhauling had been left until too late in the day, on account of 
