66 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



One fact, however, is noticeable: the Ught spottings in the sixth stage 

 are usually more numerous and varied than in the fifth. In the sixth 

 the telson markings often assume the form of bands or borders of 

 white, evident also on both segments of the lateral appendages of the 

 last segment. These bands were sometimes rust colored, but this 

 variation was more often evident in the seventh stage.* In the fifth 

 stage the white spottings were seldom seen on the pleura of more 

 than the first abdominal segments; in the sixth stage they often 

 were observable on the pleura of the first, second, and third somites. 

 Bands or streaks of white were also often evident upon the posterior 

 border of some segments of the chelise. It was noted that during 

 the latter part of the sixth stage there was some tendency to antici- 

 pate the seventh stage, the color frequently changing to a dark drab. 



Seventh Stage. 



The color of the seventh stage lobster is usually so radically dif- 

 ferent from that of any of the preceding stages that it can be recog- 

 nized with little difficulty. With hardly an exception in the many 

 individuals examined, the characteristic color was pure slate, be- 

 coming gradually darker as the stage advances, having the modi- 

 fications, hlue-slate, green-slate, and cream-slate. The white spottings 

 are full as frequent and quite as constant as in the sixth stage; the 

 only difference being the tendency for the spots to become a cream 

 color, or yellowish, rather than snow-white, which seemed more 

 characteristic of the fifth and sixth stage's. The following notes, 

 taken from the records of ten successive cars containing individual 

 seventh stage lobsters, show the constancy of this color character- 

 istic : 



Spec. 1. Moulted Aug. 1. Color, slate; claw tips, light, but not 

 white; body spots, light; border of telson, yellowish white. 



Spec. 2. Color, slate, somewhat bluish; body spots and others 

 not prominent. 



*It is entirely possible that this rust color may have been due to foreign matter from the 

 wire of the cages. 



