The development is abbreviated in the Gegarcinus ruricola, the gaily colored terrestrial crab of the West Indies, the large eggs and young of which were a puzzle to the early observers.(4) Mysis or schizopod stage. The biramous condition of the thoracic legs characteristic of this stage is transitoryLin_th.e-J[aryie of the higher Crustacea, but permanent in the lower order of schizopods. The oar-like exopods of the larval thoracic appendages persist in the lobster until the fourth molt, when they are suddenly reduced to rudiments, and after the fifth stage no vestige of them remains.(5) Larval period reduced in various degrees, and metamorphosis in some cases practically absent.In addition to the crayfishes, lobsters, and other illustrations of abbreviated development already given, we may mention Synalpheus longicarpus of the West Indies as a striking example, in addition to certain fluviatile and many deep-sea forms.Like other animals, the Crustacea tend to recapitulate, in some degree the history of their ancestors in the course of their own development, and to become modified in * On the other hand, the egg of the starfish or sea urchin, which is unencumbered by a great mass of yolk, and very small in consequence, measuring about^^inch in diameter, hatches at ordinary temperatures in 24 hours. It must, however, lead a long life as a larva, make its own living, run the gauntlet of enemies, and keep up the struggle for months. Thus the handicap at the start may count for little in the end. The advantage gained by the fowl in having a few very large eggs is offset by that of a vast number of almost microscopical ova in the echinoderm.

Although the lobster has a place in the literature of the Old World, it is seldom mentioned by American writers. Eathbun, who was the first to give a history of the American lobster fisheries, says that the great abundance and rare flavor of the lobster "are not infrequently mentioned in the early annals of New England, and it probably formed an important element in the food-supply of the seacoast inhabitants of colonial times. As a separate industry, however, the lobster fishery does not date back much, if any, beyond the beginning of the present century, and it appears to have been first developed on the Massachusetts coast, in the region of Cape Cod and Boston, although some fishing was done as early as 1810 among the Elizabeth Islands and on the coast of Connecticut. Strangely enough this industry was not extended to the coast of Maine, where it subsequently attained its greatest proportions, until about 1840." (156.

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lOO Herrick, Care of Nest ajtd Young. \ K^\ CARE OF NEST AND YOUNG.

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