to the c\;irrent and seok another ;i1qco» Such a thorough cxoj.iinfiti .^n 

 of the botton can hecone continued throughout nore daysa At the end 

 of the fourth stnge nnd in the Inter life hov/ever, the youn,:; lob- 

 sters no more voluntarily abandon the sea bottoin« 



Food. The sr;iiraninr Ir.rrae can catch only flontinr; foodo 

 Especially copepods and diatons, occasiinally also algae, rrere 

 indicated in connection vrith the larvae caught in the sea* In 

 conjiection -Tith rearing exporinents only animal fooi: is used. The 

 larvae are very rai^acious, animals as large as they themselves 

 and even their ov.ti species are attacked and cverTyhelmed. Hours 

 at a time the larvae can swim around with a Irirgc piece of prey, 

 which they hold fast with, all the thoracic feet, v/hile the branch- 

 ed sv/ii7iining feet are yet employed for s\7imming« Pieces of prey 

 must approach very near, in order to be seen; for the searching of 

 food howe^'er, taste and olfactory organs also play a roll, since 

 the larvae react also toward dissolved food. 



GrOTJth rate. Concernin.;v the grovi'th of the lobster and the a^^e 

 comiected vj-ith it, we are acquainted only very ' imjjer feet ly« At 

 most, vre knov.- more of the young developing stages, for only very 

 little. may be said of the age of a large lobster. This gap in oiir 

 knovrledge results chiefly therefore that no periodically growing 

 organ occurs Vfhich gives rise to annual rings — as on the scales 

 and otoliths of fish: on the contrary, all hard parts are thrcvim 

 off at each shedding© The molting makes it also impossible to 

 brand the lobster with marks v/hich last for a long time. Add 

 moreover to this that the living conditions in the various regions 

 cause great differ^-nces in the grovfth rate. The te:ipcratia*e plays 

 a very .^reat roll for development; we will see what relationship 

 exists for the larvae between the grovjth rate and the temperature, 

 there the same is exactly knov.-n; very probably, a similar relation- 

 ship also exists for the large individuals e The following descrip- 

 tion is restricted chiefly to an average as it occurs in the 

 southern part of the ITorth Sea, Vilien the larvae hatch from the egg, 

 they at once pass through a. molting in which the larval skin strips 

 off. They enter thereby the first larval stage and are about 80 7 

 mm. long, v/hilo the carapace has a length of 4»2 mi.i. 2^' For the 



Ij' The relationship betvreen the length of the whole animal and 

 the carapace (inclusive of the frontal process) is the same 

 for the larvae as for the adults — r.ajaely 2.2 - 2.1. Although 

 the length of the carapace is much easier and more exact to 

 measure than the whole length, as a rule only the last is 

 given, since it is the corairu-nly used one. 



most, the first shedding (the molting at birth is usually not 

 inclu'-led) follows in three or four days and the second stage is 

 reached v/ith a length of 11 Mia.; the length increment is therefore 



145 



