REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 125 



probably obtained from the former. The lobster doe.s not hesitate 

 to eat another lobster which has been weakened by molting or injury. 

 This cannibalism is most marked in the larvse, where it is a most 

 serious obstacle to rearing. 



4. Length of Life. 



The age of a lobster can only be told with a moderate degree of 

 accuracy. Size may be an indication, but frecjuently among those 

 reared in cars some will be found four or five times the length of others 

 of the same age. From accounts of early days there seems to be no 

 limit to the size which lobsters may attain, but in recent years no 

 lobster of over 25 pounds (21 inches in length) has been authentically 

 recorded. From the slow growth which we know lobsters have, 

 this specimen could not have been under 20 years old, and many 

 considerations would point to a greater age.* 



5. Molting and Growth. 



Covered by a hard shell, the only means which the lobster has 

 of becoming larger is by casting off its old shell; that is, by molting. 

 Growth has already taken place within, rendering the animal more 

 compact, so that when the lobster sheds it immediately expands 

 through the absorption of water. (Plate XXXVI.) The new shell, 

 at first as soft as wet paper, becomes hardened in a few days and 

 prevents further expansion. The lobster in the first year molts 

 about 14 or 15 times. Each successive year it molts less often, till 

 lobsters between 8 and 9 inches long shed no more than 3 or 4 times 

 a year. Concerning the molting periods of larger lobsters scarcely 

 anything is known. It is known, however, that regeneration of 

 various parts will very often retard the molting period and presum- 

 ably the growth. Excessive light (as rearing in cars without covers) 



*For a more complete discussion of the age and rate of growth of lobsters see article, Regard- 

 ing the Rate of Growth of the American Lobster, by P. B. Hadley, Report of Rhode Island 

 Commissioners of Inland Fisheries, made to the General Assembly at its January session, 1906. 



