306 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



Table IX contains the data for the rate of growth from the fifth to 

 the seventh stage. The column "days" gives the interval between 

 the fifth to the seventh molt. The data for the lengths of the lobsters 

 for the fifth and seventh stages in Group I and Group II were 

 taken directly from Tables VII and VIII, respectively. The column 

 "increase in length" states the difference between the lengths at the 

 fifth and seventh stages. Dividing the increase in length by the 

 length of the seventh stage specimen gives the amount of increase 

 per unit length of the normal; i. e., the " increase in length, per cent." 

 The quotient obtained by dividing the increase in length per cent, 

 by the number of days in which that increase took place equals the 

 amount of growth for a unit of size in a unit of time; this may be 

 termed the "Specific Rate of Growth." 



A comparison of the results for Group I and Group II in Table IX 

 shows a marked difference between the rate of growth for the normal 

 and for the regenerating lobsters; while the average rate of growth 

 for the normal specimens was 1.15, it was only 0.87 for the regenerat- 

 ing specimens; a difference of over 24 per cent. 



Therefore, since the only difference in the conditions for these two 

 groups of lobsters consisted in the fact that the process of regenera- 

 tion was introduced into one group of specimens and not into the other, 

 the results of these experiments seem to show conclusively that the 

 'process of regeneration retards the growth ot the lobster, so that the 

 introduction of the process even early in the molting period may reduce 

 the rate of growth more than 24 per cent. 



III. 



General Discussion of Results. 



It would be premature to attempt to formulate a general theory 

 for the interaction or regulation existing between the processes of 

 regeneration and molting, for the present evidence deals only with 

 one aspect of the relations. It is evident that a more adequate 

 amount of evidence should include such data as the amount and rate 



