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Commission. It must be borne in mind, in this connection, that the seasons 
south of Cape Cod begin earlier and last longer than in Massachusetts Bay, 
and that further north they will be still more contracted. Variation must also 
be expected in different years, as the seasons are earlier or later, and in different 
localities, as the waters are warmer or colder. Though the bulk of the laying 
or of the hatcaing in any particular year occurs within periods of two or three 
weeks, probably four-fifths of either is finished in less than a fortnight; to 
make allowance for the early years and for the late ones, and to include the 
early and the belated individuals, it becomes necessary to considerably extend 
the general periods. 
From all that has been gathered we may summarize as follows: (1) The 
female lobster lays eggs but once in two years, the layings being two years 
apart ; (2) the normal time of laying is when the water has reached its summer 
temperature, varying in different seasons and places, the period extending 
from about the middle of June till about the first of September ; and (3) the 
eggs do not hatch before the summer following that in which they were laid, 
the time of hatching varying with the temperature, and the period extending 
from about the middle of May till about the first of August. 
I have the honor to be, very respectfully yours, 
S. GARMAN. 
This represents all that is known of the life-history of 
the lobster to-day. Our plants from the eggs taken July 
8, 1892, were made on July 12, 18 and 20, and was proba- 
bly the last of the eggs laid the summer before. I do not 
believe that ‘‘ the lobster lays eggs all the year round,”’ as 
has been said. The animal leaves the ‘‘crawls’’ in cold 
weather and seeks a depth where the temperature is higher, 
and the lobstermen shift their pots in accordance with this 
migration. 
In a two-column article the Scientific American of April 
9, 1892, went over this subject, and from that I make the 
following extracts : 
During the past ten years there has been a great falling off in the supply of 
lobsters, until the price has increased fully one hundred per cent. This ap- 
plies alike to the New York market, to the waters along the New England 
coast and in Canada and Newfoundland, where lobster fishing and canning is 
an important industry. The necessity for increasing the supply of lobsters is 
generally recognized, and two methods are proposed for accomplishing this 
object. One is the enactment of laws which will check the depletion of the 
lobster beds by over-fishing and the otheris artificial propagation. 
Marshall McDonald, who is at the head of the United States Fish Commis- 
