202 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OP FISHERIES. 
the season and surrounding conditions, such as the nature of the sea bottom and the 
temperature of the water. By far the greater number of lobsters cast their shells during 
the months of July, August, and September. The time of shedding, however, varies 
considerably on different parts of the coast, being from 4 to 6 weeks earlier in some 
seasons in western Maine than in the extreme eastern section. Shedders are not fit 
for the market, being lean and watery, and soft lobsters are in a similar condition and 
will not bear much handling or transportation. Until the shell becomes tolerably hard 
the soft lobster is easily wounded and killed. Lobsters with very soft shells and those 
that have been mutilated are often kept in the lobster preserves or pounds until the 
shell is hardened or the injury repaired. 
Traps set by Mr. Vinal Edwards at fixed points on the rocky bottom in the harbor 
of Woods Hole, Mass., for a period of 7 months, from December 1, 1893, to June 30, 
1894, were daily hauled and the conditions of the shell of each lobster noted. The 
significant data thus obtained were as follows: 
Table 2.— Data for Lobsters Examined at Woods Hole, Mass., with Reference to Molting 
Condition. 
Number of lobsters caught. 
Lobsters 
recently 
molted or 
preparing 
to molt. 
Shell 
hard and 
dull. 
Shell soft. 
Males 1, 313 
77 
33 
44 
Females 1,344 
33 
7 
26 
Total 2, 657 
no 
40 
70 
Of the entire catch, 110 lobsters had either recently molted or were preparing to 
molt; 77 of these were males and 33 females. The total number of males was smaller, 
yet the number of soft shells among them was nearly twice as great as in the other 
sex. This fact implies that the males molt oftener than the females, which would be 
an a priori deduction from the greater size which the male attains, or that they molt 
more frequently during this period, assuming that the distribution of these animals 
was uniform for the time and place. 
In the fullest sense the molting process consists of two distinct phenomena: (1) 
The formation of a new shell and (2) the rejection of the old. When once formed the 
shell admits of no increase in size, since it is a dead structure, excreted by the soft 
skin below it, and when it is outgrown it must be cast off and give way to a new and 
larger covering. The new shell is gradually secreted under the old one, and when the 
latter is discarded the new cuticle is soft and flexible, so that it is easily distended to 
meet the requirements of growth. The growth of the lobster, as of every arthropod, 
is thus measured by a series of stages characterized by the growth of a new shell under 
the old, by the shedding of the outgrown old shell, a sudden expansion in size, and the 
gradual hardening of the shell newly formed. 
