1 -THE AMERICAN LOBSTER: A STUDY OF ITS HABITS AND DEVELOPMENT. 
By FRANCIS HOBART HERRICK, 
Professor of Biology in Adelbert College of Western Reserve University . 
INTRODUCTION. 
I. 
While working on tlie embryology of Alpkens several years ago, I decided to study 
the development of the lobster for the purpose of comparison. An opportunity was 
offered in the summer of 1889, which I spent at the laboratory of the United States 
Fish Commission at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In the spring of that year I had also 
received, through the kindness of Dr. G. H. Parker, a considerable quantity of embryo- 
logical material of the lobster, representing particularly its later stages of development. 
In the spring of 1890 1 was invited by Hon. Marshall McDonald, United States 
Commissioner of Fisheries, to prepare as complete a work as possible upon the habits 
and development or general biology of the lobster. Accordingly during the past live 
years I have devoted all the time which could be spared from professional duties to 
this research. For a part of each summer, from June to the latter part of August, I 
have enjoyed the excellent facilities for study which the laboratory of the Fish Com- 
mission at Woods Hole affords, and in the autumn oi 1893 I was enabled to carry my 
observations into the field by a journey along the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine 
and into the Province of New Brunswick. 
The materials, therefore, upon which this work is based have been gathered from 
a large number of different points, although the most systematic and prolonged 
observations have been made at Woods Hole. In this pleasant task I have been aided 
by the friendly efforts of many who have made collections, particularly of eggs, at 
widely separated parts of the coast and at different times of the year. These I have 
gratefully acknowledged in the pages of this work. 
To everyone at the Woods Hole station I am indebted for many kindnesses, but 
particularly to Hon. Marshall McDonald, whose aid and encouragement I have con- 
stantly received, and to Mr. Richard Rathbun, of the United States Fish Commission, 
who has forwarded my plans in every possible way. 
II. 
During the course of this study I have published several papers embodying the 
results of my researches ( 91 - 93 , 96 - 101 ), 1 but these should not be consulted without 
reference to this final revision of my work. Whatever errors this may contain I must 
leave for other naturalists to rectify. 
1 Italic figures in parentheses refer to the numbers of publications in the Bibliography at the end 
of this paper. 
