THE REPRODUCTION OF THE LOBSTER. 415 



their eggs during the months of June, July, and August, but a 

 considerable number — probably as many as 10 per cent, of the 

 entire number which breed in the year — lay eggs during the fall, 

 winter, and spring months. Careful systematic data have been 

 collected by the U.S. Fish Commission during the past winter at 

 Woods Holl, bearing upon this and other questions relating to 

 the Lobster, and will be given in the detailed report now in the 

 course of preparation. 



Newly-laid eggs have been collected in the fall and winter on 

 the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts. Microscopical examina- 

 tion showed them to be undergoing perfectly normal development 

 from yolk-segmentation onward. Mr. Vinal N. Edwards sent me 

 a number of live Lobsters from Woods Holl, Dec. 4th, 1893. One 

 of these had external eggs, which had probably been extruded less 

 than three weeks. At Eastport, Me., a female Lobster with 

 partially discharged eggs was taken from a Lobster-car April 30th, 

 1894, by Mr. W. J. Fisher. In this case the eggs were laid in 

 less than ten hours from the time the Lobster was placed in the 

 car. About one-eighth of the spawn was under the "tail"; the 

 rest was found in the body. 



This production of eggs out of the summer months seems 

 to be a perfectly normal process, although a somewhat unusual 

 one ; and it is possible that if the habits of many fish and other 

 animals, with a fairly definite breeding season, were minutely 

 studied, a similar variability would be found. 



How often does an adult female Lobster breed ? It had been 

 supposed that the mature Lobster laid eggs at least once a year. 

 In the paper already referred to I pointed out the important 

 economic fact that the adult Lobster could not possibly breed 

 oftener than once in two years, that annual breeding was out of 

 the question, as was " abundantly proved by the slow growth of 

 the ovarian eggs, by the immature condition of the ovaries at the 

 time when the young are hatched, and by the large percentage of 

 non egg-bearing females taken in the winter and spring." This 

 fact was further established, upon the ground of anatomy, by 

 dissections and histological examinations of a large number of 

 individuals, representing every important phase in the growth of 

 the ovaries. This is confirmed by Garman (' The Aquarium,' 

 Jan. 1894, p. 91), who reaches conclusions similar to those already 

 expressed. 



