314 American Fisheries Society 



backward to the pleopods. It is not supposed that the eggs 

 were being carried backward by the chelae of the fifth pair of 

 legs. A number of estimates showed that a female spiny 

 lobster carries about 700,000 eggs. This large number, to- 

 gether with the time in which they were deposited and the 

 way in which they were attached to the hairs of the pleopods, 

 precludes the possibility that they could have been deposited 

 with the aid of the chelae. These appendages are used to re- 

 move the surface of the vesicle and, later on, to manipulate 

 the eggs after they are laid. Whether or not small pieces of 

 the vesicle containing spermatozoa were conveyed to the pleo- 

 pods is not known, but the action of the fifth pair of legs sug- 

 gests this possibility. 



The pleopods during this time beat slowly and rhythmicly 

 from side to side. That eggs were being extruded was sug- 

 gested by the continuous attacks of small fishes which darted in 

 toward the pleon. It was very desirable for various reasons 

 to learn, if possible, how long the eggs were carried, and so 

 the female was not disturbed. It, however, was noted that 

 the eggs were all laid six hours later when the spiny lobster 

 was removed for observation. Whether the time for egg lay- 

 ing is any shorter than six hours was not learned from this, 

 or subsequent observations of several other females which 

 spawned in captivity. 



The eggs may be extruded with considerable force since 

 the mature ovaries are very large in proportion to the other 

 viscera and they must be under considerable pressure. The 

 fanning motion of the pleopods could have carried the eggs 

 backward against the endopodites. The fact that the eggs are 

 fastened to no other parts of the body than the simple hairs 

 of the last three pairs of endopodites suggests that the cement- 

 ing substance, whatever it may be, is secreted from the endo- 

 podites. Glands for this secretion, however, have yet to be 

 demonstrated. 



Unfortunately, this spiny lobster died, but observations of 

 three other females which spawned in captivity showed that 



