NATURAL, HISTORY OP AMERICAN I<OBSTER. 373 



the young than of the adults. If man's almost unlimited power of destruction is allowed 

 to supplement the destructive forces of nature, will the depleted stream of young be 

 adequate to maintain a steady current of adults? We think that it would, since under 

 Dr. Field's plan the number of breeding animals should tend to increase year by year. 



Our lobster-fishery laws, which date in the main from 1873, are in principle like 

 those which prevail elsewhere, and taken as a whole they illustrate the force of exam- 

 ple and tradition, which were established long before the biology of this animal was 

 even approximately understood. The past literature of this crustacean bristles every- 

 where with these false notions, which are more or less directly and mainly responsible 

 for the enactment and maintenance of the present laws and practices of this fishery. 



The legal length limits of 9 and io>2 inches, which sanction the destruction of the 

 big egg-producers, but for these supporting causes would probably never have been 

 retained, for these causes have led to a diversion of energy in various directions, such as 

 the enactment of closed seasons and the practice of hatching and immediate liberation 

 of the fry. 



The reasoning which has led to the establishment of the gauge limit has been 

 somewhat as follows : Lobsters come to breeding age when 9, 10, or loX inches long, and 

 when they spawn they spawn many thousands at a time, which is true. Therefore, by 

 placing the legal gauge at 9 or io}4 inches we allow this animal to breed at least once 

 before it is sacrificed, which is also true in the main. Ten-inch lobsters lay on an 

 average 10,000 eggs; the lobster, being a good mother to her unhatched progeny, and 

 the best incubator known, will bring most of these eggs to term, and will emit to the 

 sea her young by the tens of thousands. What more is needed to maintain this fishery? 

 The answer is. Vastly more. This race needs eggs not by the tens of thousands merely, 

 but by the tens of billions, and it must have them or perish. Moreover, it can get 

 them only or mainly through the big producers, the destruction of which the present 

 gauge laws have legalized. If the lobster is a good "incubator," the sea is a very poor 

 nursery. We have put a false value upon the egg. 



Before proceeding farther in this analysis, we shall review some of the most pertinent 

 facts in the biology of the lobster, most of which have been fully discussed in earlier 

 chapters. These facts concern chiefly (a) the period of maturity of adult lobsters; (&) 

 the number of eggs borne by the females, or the size of the broods; (c) the frequency of 

 spawning; (d) the treatment which these eggs receive, or the habits of spawning lob- 

 sters; (e) the habits of the fry or larvae; and (/) possibly more important than all else, 

 the death rate or the law of survival in the young. 



(o) Lobsters do not mature at a uniform age or size, but females produce their first 

 broods when from 7 to 11 inches long, approximately, the difference between these 

 limits representing a period of from 4 to 5 years (age of female lobsters at these limits 

 about 3 and 8 years, according to Hadley). Very rarely are eggs laid before the 8-inch 

 stage is reached, and the majority are mature at 10 or io}4 inches, when some have reared 

 more than one brood. Accordingly, by merely reducing the io>^-inch gauge to 9 or 8 

 inches we rob the animal of the very meager protection which it now enjoys. 



