Apkil 27, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



653 



reproductive cycle is not a one-year but a 

 two-year period. 



With respect to reproductive ability, and 

 of the females in particular, we may divide 

 the lobsters in the ocean into three classes, 

 as follows: (1) young and adolescents 

 mainly, from swimming larva to the nine- 

 inch stage; (2) intermediate class— adoles- 

 cents and adults — ^nine to ten and one half 

 inches long; (3) adult class mainly, from 

 ten and one half inches and upward in 

 length. 



The existing laM^s from New York to 

 Maine vary but little, the legal length-limit 

 being placed at nine or ten and one half 

 inches; in some eases females in spawn are 

 also protected, and there is a close season 

 in Rhode Island. 



In the Dominion of Canada and the 

 maritime provinces the legal size varies 

 from eight to ten and one half inches, while 

 in the former territory seven distinct close 

 seasons of varying limits are maintained 

 in certain geographical districts, extending 

 from late spring to midsummer on the one 

 hand, and from winter to spring on the 

 other (beginning May 30 to August 10 and 

 ending December 15 to May 25) . Notwith- 

 standing these and various supplemental 

 regulations, the fishery in the dominion has 

 steadily declined. This is not surprising 

 in view of the fact that in 1903, according 

 to the official reports, 855 canneries were 

 operated on the coast, and that, as a Can- 

 adian commissioner admitted, the canneries 

 can legally use almost everything in the 

 form of a lobster which the fisherman 

 catches. 



In general, both in the states and in the 

 provinces, reports of an increased yield of 

 the fishery should be construed as an evi- 

 dence of decline, for it can be shown that 

 the greater yield is due to one or more of 

 the following functions: increase in the 

 number of traps and efficiency of the gear, 

 in the number of fishermen, in the time of 



the fishing season, and in the area of the 

 territory covered. While the number of 

 lobsters caught may increase, the size and 

 weight of the individual animals steadily 

 diminish. 



The tendency in past and present legisla- 

 tion has been to protect classes 1 and 2 as 

 named above, in addition to female lobsters 

 with eggs attached to the body. This is 

 accurately described as protection of the 

 young, and partial protection of the adult. 

 It may sound very well, but weak spots 

 ' appear upon a closer analysis. Class 1, 

 the beginning of the series, in the course 

 of nature must be recruited mainly by 

 class 3, that is, from eggs of the largest 

 producing adults, and by the very class 

 which under present conditions is being 

 wiped out. This policy shifts the duty of 

 maintaining the first class upon class 2 

 — or upon the small producers— a task 

 which it is theoretically unable to bear, as 

 well as practically incompetent to sustain, 

 if one can draw any conclusions from the 

 reports of the fisheries. No doubt there 

 are many experienced persons who are 

 ready to maintain that the present laws are 

 good enough when properly enforced, but 

 there is no way of getting over this grave 

 defect. 



The decline in the lobster fisheries is 

 clearly due to the fact that more lobsters 

 are being annually destroyed than are be- 

 ing reared in the course of nature. You 

 can not get lobsters without eggs, and the 

 egg-producers belong chiefly to class 3. It 

 is further said that the protection of the 

 female in spawn should remedy this defect. 

 In reply to this we have to consider the 

 fact, which I have demonstrated beyond 

 reasonable doubt, '^ that the female lobster 

 lays her eggs but once in two years. Con- 

 sequently we should not expect to find more 

 than one half of this class with external 



° ' The Reproductive Period in the Lobster,' U. 

 S. Fish Commission Bulletin, 1901. 



