333 



stricted to an ambulatory mode of existence, or capable of 

 spasmodic translation only through the water in a backward 

 direction through the flapping action of its spreading tail. 

 Did we trace back the developmental phases of the lobster 

 to a period before it had left the egg, we should find that 

 for a while it represented a much lower type than an 

 Opossum shrimp, or prawn, it having then but three pairs 

 of jointed appendages, and corresponding in this respect 

 with what is known as the primitive larval or " nauplius " 

 condition of all crustacean life.* 



Interesting as these developmental phenomena of the 

 lobster are shown to be, the chief object of my bringing 

 them before your notice is to impress upon you the fact 

 that, during the first three or four weeks, at least, of its 

 existence, the lobster is so small and helpless, and so ex- 

 posed to surrounding perils, that a very infinitesimal per- 

 centage only of each liberated brood can hope to run the 

 gauntlet of its numerous enemies, and to settle down to the 

 bottom of the sea as an ambulatory lobster. Gregarious 

 shoals of full-grown fish, such as herrings, atherines, and 

 sand-eels, subsist almost exclusively upon pelagic Crustacea, 

 be they the adult phases of smaller species or the larval 

 conditions of larger types, such as crabs and lobsters ; while 

 the young of almost every fish that swims, in addition to a 

 host of marine invertebrate animals, are addicted to a 

 similar diet. The risks that a lobster runs during the first 

 few weeks of its infancy, are, in fact, as great, or, indeed, 

 greater than those encountered by a young salmon, in its 

 native streams, during its egg and " alevin " conditions. 



* Certain, but not all (see Addendum, p. 343), of the several growth- 

 phases of the common lobster here described have, on all substantial 

 points, been likewise independently observed in France by M. Gerbe, 

 in Norway by Professor Sars, and of the American variety by Mr. S. J. 

 Smith. 



