APPENDIX. 119 



weaken the lobsters, and furthermore, the uniform shade in the covered 

 cars keeps the hen lobsters scattered about instead of remaining 

 crowded together in the corners. 



As soon as a sufficient number of fry has hatched to reasonably 

 fill the rearing car, the hen lobsters are taken out and examined. 

 Those that still have eggs are immediately put into the next rearing 

 box, and so on until the eggs are all hatched. 



8. FEEDING. 



Feeding is another operation which requires much attention. 

 (Plate XXII.) The lobster fry in all stages eat ravenously and 

 without much selection of food. Almost anything in the way of 

 animal food will serve them for a meal. Their cannibalistic habits 

 have been referred to. In confinement in the rearing cars the food 

 item becomes of tremendous importance. Molting three times in 

 from 10 to 14 days, while in each molt important structural changes 

 occur, the lobsters demand regular and almost continual feeding. 

 Their feeding apparently does not take place chiefly at night as in the 

 adult, but on the contrary they seem to feed most frequently during 

 the day. The warmth of the water and the bright sun seem to favor 

 their growth, or at least the rapidity of molting. Lobster fry very 

 often, when taken from the rearing bag and placed in a shallow dish 

 for observation, will molt in a very short time if it is a bright sunny 

 day. This occurs so often as to lead one to conclude that the warmer 

 temperature of the water in the dish hastens the molting. Since the 

 conditions of temperature favor growth, they must undoubtedly 

 encourage more abundant feeding in order to supply proper material 

 for growth. But we are not to conclude that the lobster does not 

 feed during the night. Flash lights thrown on the water in the rear- 

 ing boxes at night have shown fry eating pieces of food. The fact 

 that the proportion of those feeding was not as great as in the daytime 

 must not be taken as an indication that the lobsters feed principally 

 by day, for a sudden light greatly excites them and may have caused 

 the dropping of food. 



