280 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



c. Discussion of Results. 



In series B, 42 lobsters molted to the fifth stage and were in a 

 normal condition throughout the experiment. The average length 

 of the normal molting period was 15.4 days. 



In the mutilated series, 91 of the 100 specimens molted to the 

 fifth stage. In regard to the regeneration of the chelipeds, it may 

 be noticed from the data in Table V that from series C4 to series 

 Ci3, inclusive, there was a rapid decrease in the number of individuals 

 which had regenerated the chelipeds by the time the molt occurred. 

 The significance of this will be discussed later: for our present purpose 

 we are only concerned with those specimens in which the process 

 of regeneration was actually introduced and the chelipeds regenerated 

 by the time the next molt took place. 



The average length of the molting periods of the regenerating 

 lobsters is as follows: 



Keeping in mind that the series numeral in each case indicates 

 the number of days after the molt, before the chelipeds were removed, 

 it is quickly seen that there is a gradual lengthening of the molting 

 period, corresponding very closely with the time at which the re- 

 generative process was introduced. 



This relation between the molting period and regeneration is 

 even more clearly brought out by a comparsion of the percentage 

 by which the normal molting period has been lengthened for each 

 regenerating series. This is shown by the following figures, in which 

 one column represents the percentage by which the molting period 

 for the regenerating lobsters in the corresponding series has been 

 lengthened as compared with the normal period: 



