NATURAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN I^OBSTER. 213 



quarter of a pound. In a lobster 12.5 inches long there is a difference in favor of the 

 male of 7.5 ounces. 



It is evident from the data earlier presented (see 149, table 31) that the greater 

 size of the male, which is a sexual characteristic, does not appear until the animal has 

 passed the 8-inch limit. At this period the sexes are of about equal weight, but from 

 this point the male surpasses the female in weight, owing chiefly to the greater develop- 

 ment of the large claws. 



The average weight of females without and with eggs proves that females with 

 spawn are in a poorer condition or weigh relatively less than females without eggs 

 attached to the body. In one-third of the cases recorded the weight of females with 

 eggs was actually less than that of females of the same length without eggs. In the 

 lo-inch series 184 females were examined; 36 of them had eggs and weighed on the 

 average but one-tenth ounce more than those without eggs. The average quantity of 

 eggs borne by a lo-inch lobster is 1.73 fluid ounces, and since a fluid ounce of lobster 

 eggs weighs very nearly an ounce avoirdupois, the average weight of the lo-inch female 

 deprived of her eggs is 22.13 ounces, as compared with 23.76 ounces, the average weight 

 of nonegg-bearing females of this size. There is thus a. difference of 1.63 ounces in 

 favor of the female without eggs. In the case of the 9.5-inch female lobsters, where 

 169 in all and 24 bearing eggs were examined, the average weight of the spawners was 

 less by 0.09 ounce than that of the corresponding females without eggs. 



The facts which have just been stated do not support the conclusion of Buckland 

 and his associates on the fisheries work in Great Britain that "the lobster, when berried, 

 is in the very best possible condition for food." 



The average weight of the 10.5-inch male lobster (the present legalized length limit 

 in Maine, New Hampshire, and certain districts of Canada) is about 1.75 pounds, a cor- 

 responding female without eggs weighing about an ounce less. At 9 inches (legalized 

 in New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, in Massachusetts since 1907, and in certain 

 parts of Canada) the average for both sexes is nearly 1.25 pounds. The lobster 8 inches 

 long (the present legal gauge for England, Norway, and parts of Canada) of either sex, 

 has an average weight a little short of a pound, or 15.16 ounces. At the 12 -inch length 

 the male weighs approximately 2 pounds 12 ounces, the females being about 2 ounces 

 lighter, while lobsters 15 inches long will weigh on the average 4.25 to possibly 4.5 

 pounds. 



A lobster 17.75 inches long weighed nearly 10 pounds (though in this case the 

 cutting claw was undersized), and the mammoth specimens recorded in table i, weighing 

 from 19 to 34 pounds, varied only from 19.5 to 23.75 inches in length. Indeed between 

 the 18-inch and 20-inch length, as well as beyond this limit, great variation is seen in 

 the weight of normal individuals of either sex of the same length as in the case of smaller 

 lobsters, and due to the same causes, namely, variations in the size and the correspond- 

 ing weight of the large claws or to the condition of the shell with respect to molting. 

 Beyond the 20-inch size a slight increase in length may imply a great addition to the 

 weight. 



