REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 313 



fact that the average length of the moltmg period for those lobsters 

 in which the mutilations were not succeeded by the regeneration of 

 the limbs, was not only less than the length of the molting period for 

 the regenerating specimens, but also in a large proportion of cases 

 was even shorter than the molting period for the normal lobsters. 



5. The response of the regenerative process to mutilation varies 

 according to the time of injury; so that while a mutilation made 

 early in the molting period is almost invariably immediately suc- 

 ceeded by a regeneration, a mutilation made late in the period is 

 rarely followed by the regeneration of the limb before the next 

 molt takes place. 



6. And finally, the results show that the process of regeneration, 

 by retarding both the frequency of molting and the increase in size, 

 retards the rate of growth in the lobster. 



