62 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OP INLAND FISHERIES. 



lobster. The first stage lasts about three days, the second about 

 four or five clays, and the third usually about five or six days, 

 though the length of each period varies greatly. From nine to 

 sixteen days (sometimes longer) are required for the larvae to pass 

 from the first to the fourth stage. 



A most marvellous change of form, and an even more astonish- 

 ing change of habits, occurs at the third moult. The emerging 

 fourth-stage lobster has the general form of the adult. The abdo- 

 men is no longer bent down at right angles to the body, but, as 

 in the adult, extends straight behind. The downward stroke of 

 the abdomen, which was the chief means of motion during larval 

 life, is now used, as in the adult, only for rapid retreat. All five 

 pairs of walking legs have lost their upper branches, and the first 

 pair, which now are the large characteristic " nippers," are ex- 

 tended straight in front of the head while the lobster is swim- 

 ming. The other walking legs are relatively shorter than in the 

 larva, and are fitted for walking. These structural changes are 

 accompanied by more radical changes in habits and instincts. 

 The lobster, no longer helpless upon the bottom, burrows under 

 shells or stones, and forms a home, from which it sallies forth to 

 crawl over the bottom, or swims about in search of food, and to 

 which it retires when satisfied or attacked. A new style of swim- 

 ming, which lasts only a week or two, is now adopted. The tail 

 being extended straight behind the body, and the large claws 

 extended in front of the head, the lobster swims forward in a 

 straight and perfectly definite course by the strokes of the swim- 

 merets. No trace of its former aimless activity remains, for the 

 lobster now actively seeks food, avoids enemies, and retreats from 

 danger. The active, but careless and helpless, infancy has been 

 succeeded by enterprising, independent youth. The fourth-stage 

 Lobster has passed the most critical period of its entire life and is 

 vastly better fitted for the struggle for existeuce than at any 

 earlier stage. 



Habits and Requirements of Young Lobsters Which hart: Passed 

 Through the Earliest Stages. — Young lobsters from 1 to 5 inches in 



