The Lobster Fishery of Maine | Page 2

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 mother, rise to the surface of the ocean, and, lead a free life as pelagic larvae. The first larva is about one-third of an inch long (7.84 mm). The swimming period lasts from six to eight weeks, or until the lobster has molted five or at most six times, and is three-fifths of an inch long, when it sinks to the bottom. It now travels toward the shore, and, if fortunate, establishes itself in the rock piles of inlets of harbors, where it remains until driven out by ice in the fall or early winter. The smallest, now from 1 to 3 inches long, go down among the loose stones which are often exposed at low tides. At a later period, when 3 to 4 inches long, they come out of their retreats and explore the bottom, occasionally hiding or burrowing under stones. Young lobsters have also been found in eelgrass and on sandy bottoms in shallow water.
(19) The food of the larva consists of minute pelagic organisms. The food of the older and adult stages is largely of animal origin with but slight addition of vegetable material, consisting chiefly of fish and invertebrates of various kinds. The large and strong also prey upon the small and weak.
(20) The increase in length at each molt is about 15.3 per cent. During the first year the lobster molts from 14 to 17 times. At 10-1/2 inches the lobster has molted 25 to 26 times and is about 5 years old.
As the purpose of this article is to deal more particularly with the commercial side of the lobster question all interested more particularly in the natural history of the animal are referred to the following works:
The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, sec. I, pp. 780-812.
The American Lobster, by Francis H. Herrick. Bull. U. S. Fish Com. for 1895, pp. 1-252.

HISTORY OF THE FISHERY.
Ever since the early Puritan settlers first learned from the Indians how to utilize the lobster, it has been one of the most prized articles of food in the New England States. The early town records of Massachusetts contain frequent references to this valuable crustacean, and efforts were made at an early day to conserve the supply.
At first, as most settlers lived on or near the coast, each family could easily secure its own supply, but as the settlements gradually extended farther inland this became inconvenient, and it soon became customary for certain persons living on the coast to attend to supplying the wants of the inland settlers, and thus the commercial fishery was established.
The coast of Maine is very favorably situated for this fishery. In its eastern and middle sections the shore is