830 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIV. No. 1145 



Halkett, was detailed to spend the summer in 

 going out with lobster fishermen all around 

 the coast, and in collecting statistics as to the 

 .total males, total females and percentages of 

 berried females caught in lobster traps. The 

 following is a copy of his summary of results : 



the percentages for 1894-95 are too low, be- 

 cause we have Vinal Edwards's catch off Woods 

 Hole already referred to for these same years, 

 showing 12 per cent, of the females as carry- 

 ing eggs. Does this mean that 88 per cent, of 

 the female lobsters off the Massachusetts coast 



Samples of all eggs were sent to me for the 

 determination of the age of the eggs. 



Let us compare these results with statistics 

 furnished me by Dr. Hugh M. Smith, the 

 fish commissioner at Washington, as to the 

 number of lobsters taken off the Massachusetts 

 coast. 



Dr. Smith is careful to state that the num- 

 ber of berried females is probably under- 

 stated, because of the carelessness of fishermen 

 in making returns. We are quite certain that 



are sterile? If female lobsters moult every 

 second year and extrude eggs in the alternate 

 years, why do not 50 per cent, of them carry 

 eggs? But they do not, as every fisherman 

 knows. 



The fact is that the biennial theory of moult- 

 ing and spawning can not be held any longer. 

 In the sixties and seventies when about half 

 the females carried eggs (see Vinal Edwards 

 quoted by Herrick in regard to 63.7 per cent, 

 of the females off ISTo Man's Land being ber- 



