[498] INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF VINEYARD SOUND ETC. 199 
males are most plentiful. It is a great advantage to the fshermen that 
the people prefer males. In New York it is very different in this par- 
ticular, that city being supplied from Cape Cod after June, and the 
female lobster thus considered much the best. I have sold many lob- 
sters in New York, and males sell at only about half price; the male is 
much poorer than the female in meat.” Captain Atwood states, in the 
same place, that northward and eastward of Plymouth, Massachusetts, 
“three-quarters at least are males at all seasons of the year.” Among 
those that I have examined from New London, Waterford, and Stoninug- 
ton, Connecticut, in our markets, I have not noticed any marked in- 
equality in the number of the sexes. Mr. Smith examined the lobsters in 
the market at Provincetown on two occasions in August and September, 
without finding ‘any decided differences in the number of males and 
females. He also repeatedly examined those in the fish-markets at 
Eastport, Maine, in summer, with the same result. It is possible there- 
fore, that the fishermen do not correctly distinguish the sexes, when the 
females are without eggs, and that an erroneous opinion has thus be- 
come current among them. 
There is a great difference in the breeding season on different parts of 
the coast. The lobsters from New London and Stonington often lay 
their eggsas early as the last of April or first of May; while at Halifax, 
Mr. Smith found females with recently laid eggsin September. At East- 
port, Maine, the females carry their eggsin mid-summer. Inthe male the 
genital orifices are in the bases of the last pair of legs ; in the female 
they are at the bases of the middle pair. This will always serve to dis- 
tinguish the sexes, but they also differ in the structure of the abdomi- 
nal appendages. ; 
The rock-crab, Cancer irroratus, (p. 312,) is very common on these bot- 
toms, and C. borealis (p. 395) also inhabits them, judging from the large 
‘dead specimens found on the adjacent beaches, but we only dredged a few 
small living specimens. One of these was taken on the reef between 
Watch Hill and Fisher's Island, in 4 or 5 fathoms, among alge. It is 
more convex, and much more hairy than the preceding species, and the 
teeth along the sides of the carapax are quite different. 
A large and handsomely colored shrimp, Pandalus annulicornis (Plate 
‘TI, fig. 6,) often occurs in the deeper waters, outside, but is far more 
common farther north, as in the Bay of Fundy. The common shrimp, 
Crangon vulgaris, (p. 339, Plate III, fig. 10,) is common, especially 
where there are spots of sand among the rocks. The little bright-colored 
shrimp, Hippolyte pusiola, (p. 395,) is frequently met with among the red 
alge. The Unciola irrorata, (p. 340, Plate IV, fig. 19,) and Amphithoé 
maculata, (p. 315, Plate IV, fig. 16,) together with several other Amphi- 
pods, are common, especially among the red alge, and some of them are 
handsomely marked with red and other bright colors. 
Among these are Podocerus fucicola, which is a small species and quite 
variable in color; some of those from the reef at Watch Hill had a 
