176 rf:port of commissioners of inland fisheries. 



By examining Tables Nos. 25 and 26 it will be observed that the 

 greater number of lobsters which were hatched between June 1 and 

 June 26 (entering the fourth stage June 13 to August 9) were, by the 

 first or middle of September, in the ninth stage, and that the average 

 length jor the normal ninth stage lobster according to Table No. 21 is 

 32.1 mm. If the average length of 79 individuals one year from 

 hatching is 53.5 mm., it w^ould seem (according to the normal average 

 percentage of increase for all the earlier stages, 18 per cent.) that 

 the yearling lobsters must be in the neighborhood of the twelfth 

 stage. It is probable that the growth under these more natural con- 

 ditions may be somewhat slower than when the individuals are care- 

 fully fed and kept in their own compartments (to be described later) . 

 Under the latter conditions we occasionally meet with lobsters which 

 pass through the first twelve stages before December of the same year 

 in which they are hatched. (See Table No. 26, Lobster No. 30.) 

 Herrick believed that the normal rate of growth in natural environ- 

 ments was more rapid than that obtained in the case of his captive 

 lobsters, which were kept in jars having water circulation. It is 

 most probable that this is true. The difference is, however, prob- 

 ably less than one might expect, since the freedom from injury in 

 aquaria must be of decided advantage. We know that the rate of 

 growth of lobsters kept in their individual compartments is somewhat 

 more rapid than the growth in the large storage cars. The reason for 

 this may be the greater liability to injury w^hen many lobsters are 

 confined together, and the consequent retardation of the rate of 

 growth — a state of affairs which would be in strict accordance with 

 natural conditions where the probability of injury is at least equally 

 as great. 



The cars (Plate XXXV) in which the young lobsters were placed at entrance 

 to the fourth stage, and in which all later observations on individual lobsters 

 were carried on, were constructed as follows: Long troughs were built, about 

 10 feet long, 10 inches wide, and 10 inches deep, having sides of No. 12 mesh 

 galvanized iron wire screening. By means of board partitions the inner 

 space was divided into 10 separate compartments in which the young lob- 



