THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
65 
PERIOD OF SEXUAL MATURITY. 
To determine the size which is usually attained by the sexually mature lobster is 
of the first importance in studying the economy of this animal. If the female lobster 
is not allowed to reproduce at least once before she is caught and destroyed, a deple- 
tion of the fishery must inevitably result. 
In some of the States and in the Maritime Provinces of Great Britain, where 
lobsters still abound, or were abundant in the past, protective laws have been enacted, 
prescribing a definite limit to the length of marketable lobsters. In Newfoundland 
this limit is set at 9 inches. (The Royal Gazette, May 27, 1893.) In Maine the limit is 
placed at 9 inches for the months of May and June, and 101 inches for the remainder 
of the year. 1 In Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York the limit is fixed at 
lOi inches; in Rhode Island at 10, and in Connecticut at G inches. It is thus evident 
that very uncertain and contrary opinions have been entertained in regard to the 
size which is reached by the sexually mature lobster. In order to settle this question 
upon the solid ground of anatomy, and at the same time work out a number of other 
problems relating to the reproductive organs, I made in the summer of 1890 a large 
number of dissections, and have embodied some of the results in table 20. 
Table 20. — General condition of the sexual organs, of the external and internal eggs, and of the shell in lobsters, 
chiefly females, ranging from 2 to 16 inches in length, in June, July, and August. 
No. 
Sex. 
Length. 
Date of 
capture . 
Locality. 
Condition of sexual 
organs. 
Condition of swim- 
merets. 
Remarks 
Inches. 
1890. 
1 
Female 
10R 
June 28 
Gay Head, 
Ovary pea-green color ; 
With old eggs, 
Shell hard. Compare 
rock bot- 
extends nearly to end 
now hatching. 
fig. 138, pi. 38. 
tom . 
of third abdominal 
segment. 
9. 
... do 
Hi 
do .. 
Oviducts not distended 
with eggs. 
tends to end of third 
abdominal segment. 
3 
Male... 
m 
. . do 
do 
Ducts of testes charged 
with ripe sperm. 
4-10 
Female . 
...do .... 
do 
Ovaries pea-green color. 
All with old eggs. 
The gluey threads still 
Compare fig. 138, pi 
hatched t h i s 
attached to the hairs 
38. 
year. 
of the swim merets 
show conclusively 
that young have been 
hatched this season. 
11-17 
...do .... 
do 
Ovaries approaching 
maturity. 
eggs this season . In 
one case eggs nearly 
ripe. Size of internal 
egg, 1.33 mm. 
18-21 
Male.... 
m 
. . do 
do 
Spermat ophore s — or 
packages of sperm. 
masses of ripe sper* 
matozoa, which are 
surrounded by a gela- 
wrapped in a gelati- 
nous substance— can 
tin ous secretion. 
be pressed out of the 
ducts . 
22 
Female . 
113 
July 9 
Ovaries dirty, yellow 
color; very immature. 
Apparent’ y no young 
hatched this year. 
sand hot- 
tom. 
Probably never sexu 
ally mature. 
23 
. . do 
12 
..do 
do 
Hard shell. 
nearly ripe. 
24 
... do 
11 
. do .. 
. ..do 
Do. 
very light green. 
25 
... do 
10| 
do 
Do. 
like No. 23. 
26 
. . do 
10 
do 
Ovary straw color ;very 
immature. 
Animal not reached 
sexual maturity. 
1 The legislature amended this law in 1895, so that it is now illegal to destroy lobsters measuring 
less than 101 inches in length at any time of the year. 
F.C.B.1895 5 
