INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF VINEYARD SOUND, ETC. 493 



males are most plentiful. It is a great advantage to the fishermen 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 Stoning- 

 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 ah 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 eggs as early as the last of April or first of May ; while at Halifax, 

 Mr. Smith found fern ales with recently laid eggs in September. At East- 

 port, Maine, the females carry their eggs in mid-su mmer. In the 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 Fishers Island, in 4 or 5 fathoms, among algre. 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 

 II, 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 

 algae. The Unciola irrorata, (p. 340, Plate IY, fig. 19,) and Amphithoe 

 maculata, (p. 315, Plate IV, fig. 16,) together with several other Amphi- 

 pods, are common, especially among the red alga?, 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 



