Identifier: annualreportof4189718newy (find matches)
Title: Annual report of the Commissioners of Fisheries, Game and Forests of the State of New York
Year: 1895 (1890s)
Authors: New York (State). Commissioners of Fisheries, Game and Forests
Subjects: Forests and forestry Fisheries Game and game-birds
Publisher: (Albany, N.Y. : The Commission)
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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years, and facts and figures were given to prove the state-ment. More recently, Professor Prince, of Canada, declared that the lobster spawnedannually, and when scientists disagree it is unwise for the layman to say anything onthe subject. The folLowing, taken from A Manual of Fish Culture, published bythe United States Fish Commission, treats of the reproduction of the lobster: The principal spawning season for lobsters on the United States coast is summer,especially July and August, when probably three fourths of the lobsters deposit theireggs. The remaining egg-producing lobsters lay during the fall and winter. A givenlobster does not spawn oftener than every second year, as has been shown by recentstudies conducted by the Commission. The eggs are fertilized outside the body of the female. The spermatic fluid isdeposited in a receptacle at the base of the third pair of walking legs, and retains itsvitality for a long time. When the eggs are being extruded the female lobster lies on
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if) D z < 0 (K LU z < <n D < X5 z 0 0) nz s_ -—- 0 n cr: CL LU h- COQQO <(J LU z< (D1) FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 291 her back and folds the tail so as to form a kind of chamber to retain the eggs. Aftertheir discharge from the body the eggs become coated with a cement substancesecreted by glands in the swimmerets; this substance hardens after being in contactwith the water and firmly anites the eggs to the hair-like filaments on the swimmerets.The exact method by which the fertilizing principle is conveyed to the eggs from thepouch in which it is contained is not known. The incubative period is much prolonged. After the eggs are extruded andbecome attached externally, they are carried ten or eleven months before hatchingensues; during this time they are carefully protected, and are perfectly aerated bythe active motion of the swimmerets. On the United States coast most of the lobstersemerge from the eggs in June, although some of the hatching is completed in May

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