126 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



will lessen the percentage of gain at each molt, if not the frequency 

 of the periods. 



6. Regeneration. 



If a claw or any appendage is lost the lobster has the power of 

 growing it again (regeneration). Should the loss occur within a 

 certain period, too near an approaching molt, the molting occurs 

 regularly without anything being done in the way of repair. If, 

 however, the loss happens a considerable length of time before the 

 molt, this period will be delayed somewhat, and, in place of the lost 

 limb, a bud will grow out. When the molt occurs the lost limb will 

 come out fully formed, but about one-half size. When the next 

 molt occurs it will be full size. This is true, with some variation, of 

 all external organs unless it is the eye. This has never been observed 

 to regenerate at the Experiment Station.* Closely related to this 

 power of regeneration is the habit which the lobster has of throwing 

 off a claw when it is crushed or injured (autotomy) . 



7. Sexual Maturity. 



Since it is impossible to tell how old a lobster is, we can not tell at 

 what age it reaches sexual maturity. Observation on over one 

 thousand egg lobsters received at the Experiment Station during 

 several years seems to indicate that, in Narragansett Bay, lobsters 

 may become sexually mature when from 8| to 9 inches long. In the 

 past five years only about a dozen egg lobsters under 9 inches in length 

 have been received, though a considerable number have been just 9 

 inches. This would indicate that in Narragansett Bay very few 

 lobsters under 9 inches have become sexually mature, although 9 

 inches is a good average. Herrick places the range in length of the 

 Massachusetts lobster at the time of sexual maturity at from 8 to 



*For a more complete account of the matter of regeneration in lobsters see article, Regen- 

 eration of Lost Parts in the Lobster, by V. E. Emmel in the Report of Rhode Island Com- 

 missioners of Inland Fisheries, made to the General Assembly, 1905. 



