v 170 



almost nothing has been published in regard to its traits 

 and local distribution. It lives upon rockv, gravelly, and 

 sandy bottom, from low water down to twenty or thirty 

 fathoms and perhaps deeper, but not probably at great 

 depths. It feeds upon any kind of animal matter either 

 fresh or decaying, which it can discover. 



In Long Island Sound the lobster fishing begins late in 

 March or early in April, and continues till late in the fall, 

 although the greater part are taken in May and June. 

 On the coast of northern Massachusetts and Maine, whence 

 the winter supply comes, they may be taken nearly all 

 the year round. The time at which the females carry 

 eggs varies very much on different parts of the coast, be- 

 ing later and later as we go further north; south of Cape 

 Cod, in Long Island and Vineyard Sounds, they are found 

 carrying eggs from the first of April till late in June. At 

 Portland, Maine, they were carrying eggs till the middle 

 of August, while in the Bay of Fundy they are found with 

 eggs from rnid-summer till September. 



Soon after the hatching, the young leave their parent 

 and live for a considerable period a very different life 

 from the adult. At first they are not more than a third 

 of an inch long, and have scarcely any resemblance to a 

 lobster. They are furnished with long swimming branches 

 to the legs and swim abuut freely in the water, living 

 most of the time near the surface, like many kinds of free 

 swimming shrimps. With each change of the skin they 

 become more and more lobster like, until when a little 

 more than half an inch long they appear like veritable 

 little lobsters, but still have the free swimming habits of 

 the earlier stages. During this period, which must be 

 several weeks, they are constantly exposed to the attacks 

 of fishes and all sorts of marine animals, while they them- 

 selves pursue and feed upon still smaller fry. Any at- 



