72 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF IXLAXD FISHERIES. 



Tenth Stage. 



The fact of the gradual exchision from stage to stage of certain 

 color combinations from the general system of coloration of a definite 

 stage-period manifested heretofore in all the previous stages also 

 holdg true for the conditions found in the tenth stage lobster. Here, 

 it will be readily noted by a glance at the table, the number of slate 

 and cream colored lobsters has greatly diminished. Blue, blue- 

 slate, and green-slate, however, remain fairly constant in occurrence, 

 while there has also been a tendency toward the development of an 

 olive-green and an olive-brown combination. In the tenth stage, 

 moreover, the light spottings are seldom observed we see, as the 

 foregoing table denotes, traces of the dark mottling so characteristic 

 of the adult lobster, a phenomenon which, with a very occasional 

 exception, makes its first appearance in this stage. 



Eleventh Stage. 



A^er}^ unfortunately it was not possible to carry on observations 

 upon many of the eleventh stage before the oncoming winter weather 

 and the consequent necessity of sinking the lobster cars to the bot- 

 tom of the harbor cut short all investigations. The meagre facts 

 which can be reported upon the coloration of this stage may be 

 briefly obtained from a glance at the table. Pronounced mottling 

 seems to become a constant feature in this stage, and the few in- 

 dividuals examined show a greater resemblance to the color type of 

 the adult lobster than does any previous stage. Indeed, it may be 

 safely said that, in consideration of this fact, and that of the fre- 

 quenc^y of the olive and red-brown combination, the adidt system of 

 color is approximately reached in the eleventh stage of the lobster. 



