stern districts of
Maine is two weeks later than in Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts.
In 1893 71 per cent of eggs examined from the coast of Maine
were extruded in the first half of August.

(9) The number of eggs laid varies with the size of the animal.
The law of production may be arithmetically expressed as
follows: _The number of eggs produced at each reproductive
period varies in a geometrical series, while the length of
lobsters producing these eggs varies in an arithmetical
series._ According to this law an 8-inch lobster produces
5,000 eggs, a lobster 10 inches long 10,000, a 12-inch lobster
20,000. This high rate of production is not maintained beyond
the length of 14 to 16 inches. The largest number of eggs
recorded for a female is 97,440. A lobster 10-1/2 inches long
produces, on the average, nearly 13,000 eggs.

(10) The period of incubation of summer eggs at Woods Hole is
about ten months, July 15-August 15 to May 15-June 15. The
hatching of a single brood lasts about a week, owing to the
slightly unequal rate of development of individual eggs.

(11) The hatching period varies also with the time of
egg-laying, lobsters having rarely been known to hatch in
November and February.

(12) Taking all things into consideration, the sexes appear
about equally divided, though the relative numbers caught in
certain places at certain times of the year may be remarkably
variable.

(13) Molting commonly occurs from June to September, but there
is no month of the year in which soft lobsters may not be
caught.

(14) The male probably molts oftener than the female.

(15) In the adult female the molting like the spawning period
is a biennial one, but the two periods are one year apart. As a
rule, the female lays her eggs in July, carries them until the
following summer, when they hatch; then she molts. Possibly a
second molt may occur in the fall, winter, or spring, but it is
not probable, and molting just before the production of new
eggs is rare.

(16) The egg-bearing female, with eggs removed, weighs less
than the female of the same length without eggs.

(17) The new shell becomes thoroughly hard in the course of
from six to eight weeks, the length of time requisite for this
varying with the food and other conditions of the animal.

(18) The young, after hatching, cut loose from their