THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
55 
eggs; 15 per cent carried from 15,000 to 16,000; 6 per cent had 18,000 to 19,000; one 
individual carried upward of 21,000, while 4.6 per cent bore only 3,000 to 4,000. This 
is further illustrated by cut 3, which shows the variation in fecundity of 352 lobsters 
each 10 inches long. In this case 26 per cent laid 9,000 eggs, 30 per cent 12, 000, not quite 
1 per cent 18,000. The curve drops and keeps well down after the 12,000 limit is 
reached, which possibly implies a loss of eggs in those lobsters having more than the 
average number. 
Table 16 . — Production of eggs by volume. 
Length 
of lobster. 
Smallest 
number 
of fluid 
ounces. 
Largest 
number 
of fluid 
ounces. 
Average 
number 
of fluid 
ounces. 
N umber 
of lobsters 
examined. 
Length 
of lobster. 
Smallest 
number 
of fluid 
ounces. 
Largest 
number 
of fluid 
ounces. 
Average 
number 
of fluid 
ounces. 
Number 
of lobsters 
examined. 
8 inches 
11 
.78 
6 
13 inches 
1 
8 
4. 70 
321 
8J inches 
i 
li 
1.12 
2 
13£ inches 
4 
8 
5. 50 
PJ 
X 
2 
1. 14 
9 
1 
9 
5. 39 
146 
8§ inches 
i 2 
i* 
1. 17 
3 
13| inches 
7 
7 
7. 00 
2 
X 
3 
1. 30 
143 
1 
14 
6. 07 
426 
9£ inches 
1' 
2 
1.50 
35 
14$ inches 
31 
10 
7. 05 
90 
JL 
3 4 
1. 53 
241 
2 
16 
7. 64 
280 
A 
2 $ 
1. 63 
55 
9. 00 
1 
10 inches 
X 
4" 
1.73 
514 
151 inches 
4 
1G 
8. 83 
45 
1 
3| 
1. 91 
61 
8 
0 
8. 41 
3 
10$ inches 
X 
6 
2. 12 
532 
| 16 inches 
4 
16 
9. 38 
103 
1 
4 
2. 31 
45 
11. 00 
1 
$ 
8 
2. 53 
568 
6 
14 
10. 85 
13 
1 
4 4 
2. 79 
43 
2 
14 
10. 40 
30 
11$ inches 
i 
7 
3.06 
307 
171 inches 
10 
12 
10. 67 
3 
U| inches 
2 
4 
2. 95 
11 
18 inches 
10 
15 
12.71 
7 
12 inches 
X 
9 
3.51 
414 
19 inches 
9 
15 
12. 75 
4 
3 
41- 
3 84 
8 
n 
7 
4. 07 
.156 
4,645 
12§ inches 
3" 
7 
4.34 
12 
The data collected in table 16 will show in still another way the variation in the 
quantity of eggs produced by lobsters of different sizes. The average weight of a 
104-inch female lobster with eggs is If pounds (table 31), the eggs weighing about 
2 ounces. A 15-inch lobster which weighs upward of 4 pounds (table 31), sometimes 
carries a burden of a pound of eggs. As already remarked, a fluid ounce of fresh 
eggs weighs about 1 ounce avoirdupois. 
PERIOD OF INCUBATION AT WOODS HOLE AND RATE OF DEVELOPMENT. 
The freshly laid eggs are somewhat irregular in shape, but soon plump out and 
become nearly spherical. Some, however, have the form of elongated spheroids (plate 
17, fig. 24). They measure approximately inch in diameter, or 1.5 to 1.7 mm. In 
color they are dark olive-green, 1 sometimes almost black, hence the use of the term 
“black egg-lobster,” common among fishermen, to distinguish the “new egg-lobster” 
from the “old” or the “light egg-lobster,” in which the dark-green food yolk has 
been more or less absorbed by the growing embryo. In England the female lobster 
with external eggs is spoken of as being “in berry,” or is sometimes called a “berried 
hen.” 
The rate of development of the summer eggs at Woods Hole is illustrated by 
tables 17 and 18, and by cuts 23-38 (plates G to J). 
1 For variation in the color of the egg, see p. 137, and plate 17, tigs. 23 and 24. 
