Aiiiericaii Fisheries Sucicti/ 201 



Mr. Field : Yes, they do lav more ei>gs. This is the numbLT, 

 but this does not represent the value of the eggs. These larger 

 lobsters, of 15 and IC inches will lay in the neighborhood of 

 60,000 to 80,000 eggs, whereas these down here (indicating) 

 would lay only about 5,000 to 10,000, these practically on thi'^ 

 side of the line not over 20,000, whereas these on this side lay 

 from 20,000 to SO. 000 or DO.OOO eggs. 



Professor Mead : On the other hand, those lobsters, if they 

 are allowed to live, as indicated, on the first side of the line of 

 your diagTam, will produce for several seasons, while those on 

 the other side are rapidly declining. 



Mr. Field: It is a question whether they are rapidly de- 

 clining. 



Professor ^Mead : Although they are \\orth two or three 

 times as much for food. 



]\Ir. Field : ^Xe found in our observations that there are 

 about six times as many lol)sters between 9 and 11 inches as 

 there are those aliove that, — at least that, — we don't know but 

 more in certain places. Let a man go out in a boat, and measure 

 every lobster that came into the pot in order to get an idea of the 

 number of lobsters of that particular capacity. 



President: Your idea wouhl l)e to exempt those between 11 

 and 14 inches. 



Professor Mead : I have not made that as a definite propo- 

 sition, but I do not see wliy according to the curve he has got 

 there, you should not exempt the larger ones. 



Xh. Field : The thing you have in mind is represented by 

 one curve, and this represents another thing. This curve does 

 not show the capacity. 



Professor Mead : That would not re])resent the truth, l^e- 

 cause your absolute capacity depends Ijoth upon tlie numl)er and 

 tile number of eggs per individual. 



Mr. Field : That is true. 



Professor Mead: But it does seem to me, if vou kill off the 



