Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (leaves 172-183). / Cancer magister, the Dungeness crab, occurs in different habitats during its life cycle, habitats which vary widely in the magnitude of salinity and temperature changes. Cancer magister hemocyanin also changes in structure and oxygenation properties during development. The following question was considered in this thesis: what are the effects of environmental salinity and temperature on metabolic rates, ionic and osmotic regulation and hemocyanin oxygen affinity in Q. magister during development. Metabolic rates and hemolYmph ionic and osmotic concentrations were measured in the megalopa, 1st juvenile, 5th juvenile and adult crab eight hours after acute exposure to 100% seawater (=32 ppt), 75% seawater and 50% seawater at both 10°C and 20°C. The oxygen binding properties of the whole hemolymph from these stages in 100% seawater at 10°C was determined. The effects of calcium and magnesium on the oxygen affinity of purified hemocyanin from different stages were also determined. In 100% seawater, routine metabolic rates of the four stages scale with body mass over the size range, 0.05 gm to 500 gm. The Q10 (10°C to 20°C) for the megalopa is higher in 75% seawater and 50% seawater than in 100% seawater. For the 1st juvenile, 5th juvenile and adult the Q10 values (10°C to 20°C) are independent of salinity. The megalopa, 1st juvenile and 5th juvenile are weaker regulators of hemolymph chloride, sodium and osmotic concentrations than the adult. The megalopa and adult, unlike the 1st juvenile and 5th juvenile, strongly regulate hemolymph calcium in reduced salinity. In 100% seawater hemolymph magnesium is significantly higher in the megalopa, 1st juvenile and 5th juvenile than in the adult. The oxygen affinities of whole hemolymph from the four stages are indistinguishable when adjusted for endogenous L-lactate concentrations; the Bohr coefficients are not significantly different among stages. The effect of magnesium on oxygen affinity of purified adult hemocyanin is influenced by proton concentration; the effect of calcium is independent of proton concentration. In 100% seawater, endogenous inorganic ion concentrations in the whole hemolymph of the various stages reduce the intrinsic stage specific differences in hemocyanin oxygen affinity.