NATURAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN LOBSTER. 203 



Not only is the external shell cast off in the molt, along with the linings of the 

 masticatory stomach, the esophagus, and the intestine, but also the internal linkwork 

 of hard tendons described in chapter vi. The sloughing of the latter is rendered pos- 

 sible, first by the presence of absorption areas and secondly from the fact that the 

 inner skeleton is in origin an infolded part of the cuticle; in molting the lobster with- 

 draws its soft body from the mold of its old and hardened skeleton. It is thus easy 

 to see why the molting act is a continually recurring crisis in the life of the decapod 

 crustacean, for it is both dangerous and expensive, not only calling for a considerable 

 excess of energy, but demanding that a long series of preparatory changes, to be later 

 considered, must be exactly executed. Since it is dependent upon the condition of the 

 individual, which is subject to wide variation, the molt does not take place at any 

 stated time, but may occur in any month of the year. In general, molting in either sex 

 is rare in winter and spring and most frequent in summer. Warmer weather, a more 

 active life, a greater abundance of food, and a more vigorous appetite, which are char- 

 acteristic of the lobster or its environment during the warmest part of the year, are 

 most favorable to the renewal of the shell. The lobster, though a carnivorous animal, 

 feeds less in winter, when its habits are relatively sluggish. Broken limbs and injuries 

 to the shell are then but slowly repaired, and there is less energy to be drawn upon in 

 molting. 



As a rule, the adult female that lays her eggs in August of any given year carries 

 them for 10 or 11 months, until they hatch in the succeeding June. Since the spawn- 

 ing periods are 2 years apart, Hadley {126) infers that the molting periods can not 

 oftener occur and that the rate of growth in the female is consequently diminished. 

 In average cases this rule may hold, but exceptions occur. Thus, I have recorded two 

 cases (149) where soft-shelled lobsters with eggs were taken in which the molt could 

 not have preceded ovulation by more than two or three weeks; still further, in excep- 

 tional cases, a second molt may possibly take place in late autumn or in the early 

 winter, following the hatching of a brood. 



It is several weeks before the new envelope becomes as hard as the one rejected, 

 so that the lobster is, for a large part of its life, either preparing for a molt or recovering 

 from one. Therefore it is not remarkable that lobsters have acquired many popular names 

 among fishermen, such as "hard shell" or "old shell" lobster, "shedder," black shell," 

 or "crack shell" (lobster preparing to molt), "soft shell," "new shell," "shadow," 

 "rubber shell," "paper shell," "buckle shell" lobsters, etc. (animals which have 

 recently molted). 



Shedders can be readily distinguished by the dark, dull colors of the old shell, 

 hence the common name of "black lobster," and by the deep reddish tint of the mem- 

 branes at the joints, where the flesh is seen through the old and new cuticulse. The 

 lobster is now naturally sluggish and takes but little food, but it can not be said that 

 the shedder never breaks its fast. It is not a very unusual experience for the fisherman 

 to take both the soft lobster and its cast from his traps. When in this condition 

 lobsters commonly haunt shallow water, with a sandy, muddy, or weedy bottom, and 



