SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. Ill 



spawning — to be convinced that annual spawning is an 

 anatomical impossibility/' 



Ehrenbaum was of the opinion that the European 

 lobster produced eggs only once in four years, and 

 Fullarton considered that it did not spawn two years in 

 succession. Prince on the other hand does not favour the 

 theory of biennial spawning. 



Herrick, in a footnote on p. 72, suggests : " The best 

 way to test the question by experiment would be to take 

 a female which had recently hatched a brood, and keep 

 her alive until the following summer, when the next batch 

 of eggs would be due, in case the spawning period is a 

 biennial one/ 5 This experiment was conducted by 

 Cunningham at Cornwall. Uf five lobsters which had 

 hatched their eggs under his observation, and which were 

 placed in a floating box in September, soon after the eggs 

 had hatched, one was found to be berried in October, one 

 produced no eggs, though the ovary was ripe in the 

 following February, two cast their shells, and one escaped. 

 The experiment has also been carried out in America, and 

 Herrick has quite recently published a paper entitled 

 k The reproductive period of the lobster."* This paper 

 deals with the American species, and gives some later 

 views based upon direct experiments with the living- 

 animal. Herrick states : " The theory of biennial spawn- 

 ing is supported by a variety of testimony. The true 

 answer to the question ' How often does the mature lobster 

 lay her eggs ?' is, therefore, ' Once in two years as a rule.' 

 On -June 19th, 1900, Mr. Yinal Edwards placed in a 

 floating car thirty-six lobsters from which the old external 

 eggs had been removed, fed them regularly, and on the 

 first of each month following caught one of the animals 



* U.S. Fish. Commission Bulletin for 1901, pp. 161-1GG (1902). 



