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1 -THE AMERICAN LOBSTER: A STUDY OF ITS HABITS AND DEVELOPMENT. 



By FRANCIS HOBART HERRICK, 

 Prof " of Biology in Adelbert College of Western Reserve University. 



INTRODUCTION. 

 I. 



While working on the embryology of Alpheus several years ago, I decided to study 

 the development of the lobster for the purpose of comparison. An opportunity was 

 offered in the summer of 1889, which I spent at the laboratory of the United States 

 Fish Commission at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In the spring of that year I had also 

 received, through the kindness of Dr. G. H. Parker, a considerable quantity of embryo- 

 logical material of the lobster, representing particttlarly its later stages of development. 



In the spring of 1890 I was invited by Hon. Marshall McDonald, United States 

 Commissioner of Fisheries, to prepare as complete a work as possible upon the habits 

 and development or general biology of the lobster. Accordingly during the past five 

 years I have devoted all the time which could be spared from professional duties to 

 this research. For a part of each summer, from June to the latter part of August I 

 have enjoyed the excellent facilities for study which the laboratory of the Fish Com- 

 mission at Woods Hole affords, and in the autumn of 1893 I was enabled to carry my 

 observations into the field by a journey along the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine 

 and into the Province of New Brunswick. 



The materials, therefore, upon which this work is based have been gathered from 

 a large number of different points, although the most systematic and prolonged 

 observations have been made at Woods Hole. In this pleasant task I have been aided 

 by the friendly efforts of many who have made collections, particularly of eggs, at 

 widely separated parts of the coast and at different times of the year. These I have 

 gratefully acknowledged in the pages of this work. 



To everyone at the Woods Hole station I am indebted for many kindnesses, but 

 particularly to Hon. Marshall McDonald, whose aid and encouragement I have con- 

 stantly received, and to Mr. Eichard Eathbun, of the United States Fish Commission, 

 who has forwarded my plans in every possible way. 



II. 



During the course of this study I have published several papers embodying the 

 results of my researches (91-93, 96-101), 1 but these should not be consulted without 

 reference to this final revision of my work. Whatever errors this may contain I must 

 leave for other naturalists to rectify. 



1 Italic figures in parentheses refer to the numbers of publications in the Bibliography at the end 

 of this paper. 



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