186 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF IXLAXD FISHERIES. 



we left with a length of 162 mm. (6J inches) in June, at the begin- 

 ning of his fourth year of life, and in the nineteenth stage. From 

 our observations and those of Herrick and Brook it would appear 

 that a lobster over 6 inches in length does tiot molt oftener than twice 

 n year; once in late spring or early summer and again in the autumn. 

 On this point the data of the following observation would seem to 

 present some surprisingly clear evidence. Out of 48 "chicken" 

 lolDsters (6-8 inches) which were confined in cars during the summer 

 months of 1904 at Wickford. it was a noteworthy fact that eleven 

 lobsters from 6 to 7 inches in length molted between September 2 

 and October 4; that only one 6-inch lobster molted later in October, 

 and not one in July or August. The lobsters were received early in 

 July, and unfortunately it is not known exactly when the previous 

 molt of the 6-inch loljsters took place, but it must have been in the 

 early summer. The greater number of these lobsters were later more 

 or less mutilated for experiments in regeneration, and the record of 

 only 15 has been presented in Table No. 14. The molting period, 

 however, was undoubtedly about normal, although, as already stated, 

 the percentage of increase in size at each molt was somewhat less than 

 what we must assume for normal. According to the above inferences, 

 then, the average lobster icill enter the twentieth stage sometime in the 

 autumn of his fourth year and at this molt will increase from 162 mm. 

 (6| inches) to 180 mm. (7j inches). In the late spring or early sum- 

 mer the young lobster, now approximately four years old, molts for the 

 twentieth time and enters the twenty-first stage with a length of 200 

 mm. (8 inches). 



IX. Differences ix the Rate of Growth of the Male and 

 Female Lobster. 



1 . Lobsters under Eleven Inches in Length. 



Except in the case of young female lobsters bearing eggs — and such 

 are very seldom found in the 8-inch length — we may expect another 



