HABITS AND GROWTH OF THE LOBSTER, AND EXPERI- 

 MENTS IN LOBSTER-CULTURE. 



{THIRD PAPER.) 



A. D. MEAD AND L. W. WILLIAMS, 



BROWN UNIVERSITY, PROVIDENCE. E I. 



The investigations recorded in this and the two previous papers 

 on the same subject have been conducted in the endeavor to con- 

 tribute new data which, combined with those obtained by 

 Herrick," Bampus, and other writers, should furnish an adequate 

 knowledge of the lobster and the conditions under which it lives. 

 Definite information relating to the following questions is not only 

 of general biological interest, but of direct economic importance : 

 the geographical distribution of the lobster, and its distribution 

 relative to the depth of the water ; its breeding habits, including 

 the time, place, and frequency of breeding, manner of depositing 

 and caring for the eggs, number of eggs deposited and the 

 method of their dispersement, age and size attained before breed- 

 ing begins, and the numerical proportion of males and females ; 

 the habits of the young fry, their movements, their food and 

 manner of feeding, their natural enemies, their adjustment to phys- 

 ical conditions such as temperature and density of water, their 

 rate of growth, manner and frequency of moulting, the changes 

 in structure and habits which accompany the early moults ; the 

 habits and requirements of the young lobsters which have passed 

 through the earliest stages ; the rate of growth and age of lob- 

 sters up to the marketable size ; the migration of adult lobsters 

 along the shore and to and from the waters of adjoining States ; 

 their migrations to and from deep water ; the rate of growth of 



♦Bulletin of U. S. F. C, Vol. XV, for 1895. 



