THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 



69 



(lulling from table 20 all lobsters 9 inches long- and upward which are immature 

 or have not as yet spawned, the record is as follows: 



Number m table 20. 



Length in 

 inches. 



47 



9 Id 

 a i0 



10 

 101 



log 



10 J 



10| 



11 



111 



83 



59 



20, GG, G7 



58,84 



74,82 



28,36 



80 



73 



86 



72 



22 





Total number, 17. 



The following would have laid eggs during the current season — that is, they were 

 within a few days or a few weeks of their first spawning : 



Number in table 20. 



Length in 

 inches. 



; 34,94 



9i 



91 



log 



10J 



11 



11* 



12 



90 





25 



78 



27 



23 





Total number, 8. 



We thus find that 25 females, a large number out of the entire list, varying from 

 9fg to 12 inches in length, had either never reached maturity or were mature for the 

 first time. Of the 17 immature females, G are 10£ inches or upward in length, and 

 the ovaries in most cases would not have matured for at least two years. In order to 

 be on the safe side I have purposely omitted from the enumeration all doubtful cases. 



It may be asked, How can you be certain that a lobster has never spawned? The 

 answer to this cpiestion is easily found by examining the ovary. If the surface or 

 interior of the ovaries or their ducts are flecked with small yellow or yellowish orange 

 spots, in however slight a degree (see fig. 336), it is an infallible sign that external 

 eggs have already been carried. If these specks are examined under the microscope 

 (fig. 150, plate 41), it will be seen that they are the remnants of old eggs which failed of 

 extrusion at the last sexual period. At every such season of egg-laying there are 

 always, as Ave have already seen, a few residual eggs, out of the thousands which are 

 laid, which stick fast in the ovary or in its ducts, or for some cause are not driven 

 outside of the body. These remain in the organs and undergo degeneration in situ. 

 It is, perhaps, not surprising that traces of these eggs persist in the ovary for upward 

 of two years without being completely absorbed, when it is remembered that the semi- 

 fluid contents of the egg are surrounded by a tough bag of chitin, the primary egg 

 membrane. 



Another means of determining the sexual condition of the female, which, I consider 

 to be also infallible, is the color of the ovaries. The ovary immediately after egg-laying 



