410 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 
estuary. These young crabs have almost certainly hatched from the 
egg the preceding fall, for it is then, in the months of August and 
September, that egg-bearing females, ‘* blooming crabs,” in the fisher- 
men’s vernacular, are most abundant in the extreme lower part of the 
bay. 
Once having established itself in a congenial location, the young 
crab probably remains there until it has attained its growth. It has 
been stated that three years is required for this“ and that the young 
crab sheds its shell twice each summer before it reaches its full size. 
It is quite possible, however, and such evidence as I have been able to 
collect makes it seem probable, that in Chesapeake Bay, at least, the 
growth of the young crab is more rapid and that it may reach its full 
size in at most two seasons. At Crisfield, where hundreds of thousands 
of crabs are taken each summer and sent to market, the spring catch, 
beginning in May, contains great numbers of small crabs from 1} to 2 
inches across. By the next month they have reached 3 inches, and in 
July individuals 4 inches across are the rule. In August and Septem- 
ber most of the females have reached a breadth of 5 inches and are 
mature and ready for mating. It may be, of course, that this gradual 
increase in the size of the individuals taken does not prove such a 
rapid growth so much as an increased number of crabs on the bottoms 
from which the fishermen can choose. There are always a certain 
number of small crabs taken in the nets and thrown back into the 
water again, but the number of small ones diminishes as the number of 
large ones increases toward the end of summer. 
The duration of life of the crab after it has reached maturity is not 
positively known, but it is very probable that it differs somewhat in 
the two sexes. One observer, quoted by Miss Rathbun, gives seven 
years as the limit of the crab’s life without regard to sex and also says 
that it does not molt after having reached maturity. The latter 
statement is probably correct, but the former can hardly be accepted 
without proof. The evidence which has been collected seems to show 
that the males will survive at least one winter and possibly two, for 
large, full grown individuals are common throughout the winter and 
in early spring and are often caught by the oyster dredgers. These 
large males do not shed their shells and are usually battered and more 
or less covered with barnacles and even oysters. The females, on the 
other hand, probably die soon after spawning, and therefore survive 
the first winter only in case they have not copulated immediately 
upon becoming mature. The evidence to support this statement is 
perhaps not wholly satisfactory. No one has, as far as I know, 
followed the female crabs actually to see what becomes of them, but I 
have been informed that at times the beaches along the lower part of the 
@ Rathbun 1896, p. 369; also Paulmier 1901, p. r. 135. 
