66 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



extends between the latter part of May and the middle of July. 

 When, therefore, lobsters two or more inches in length are caught 

 from the ocean during this hatching period, it is practically certain 

 that they are at least one year old. If a considerable proportion of 

 these should be of the same size as the specimens which have 

 been raised and kept in confinement for a year, it would show that 

 the latter had kept pace with some, at least, of the lobsters in the 

 natural habitat. In Herrick's tables of measurements, of about 

 sixty lobsters between 1} and 6 inches long, he gives two speci- 

 mens, which were caught in June, at Woods Holl. One of these, 

 caught June 1, 1891, measured 69^ millimeters (equals 2f inches) ; 

 the other, caught on June 30, also at Woods Holl, measured 71 ,V 

 millimeters (3 inches.) The measurement of the Wickford lobsters 

 on May 31, 1902, when they w r ere about a year old, showed that, 

 of the twenty-five specimens, eight were equal in length, or longer, 

 than the June 1 specimen of Herrick's table. Three of our speci- 

 mens were 74 millimeters or over (see table 9.) 



The comparison of only two specimens caught from the ocean 

 is an uncertain basis for general conclusions, but it shows, at 

 least, that some lobsters in natural conditions do not grow more 

 rapidly during the first year than some of those kept in the cars. 



The accompanying tables explain themselves, but there are a 

 few points which deserve especial attention. The size of the lob- 

 sters of the same age varies greatly, though they are reared in 

 the same car and under apparently the same conditions This is 

 o-reatly marked in the lobsters two or three months old (table 6) 

 and is also evident among the oldest lobsters raised. The 

 measurements of length hardly give a correct impression of the 

 amount of variation, for a slight difference in the length means a 

 great difference in bulk. Figure 23, reproduced life size, from a 

 photograph taken ( >ctober 20, 1902, of three lobsters, about 1 year 

 ami 4 months old, i;i\»'s a better idea of this variation. The im- 

 mediate cause of these variations is probably the difference in the 

 amount of food taken by different individuals, and this, in turn, 

 depends upon accidents of location, etc., which bring the food to 



