224 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



horses run over the fields of the lobster," meaning the ships that sail on 

 the waves of the sea. In a song by Snigly Holle, in Harald Haardraa- 

 des Saga, chapter 105, the expression " to be at the bottom with the lob- 

 ster " is used for drowning. In the Selkolle Songs of Einar Gilson, in 

 Bishop Gudtnuuds Saga, the term " the light of the lobster," equiva- 

 lent to the fire of the sea, or gold, is used. In the same place, the expres- 

 sion " the horse of the lobster mountain," meaning the ship, is used. 

 Finally, there is found in the poem Liknar-braut, the expression " laud 

 lobster," meaning a serpent or dragon. 



The lobster belongs to the class of crustaceans, and among them to 

 the highest section, the so-called order of decapods, which embrace short- 

 tailed (brachyura) and long-tailed (macrura) species. The lobster has 

 a great similarity to the common crawfish, (Asiacus fluviatilis,) living 

 in brooks and small rivers, but is distinguished from it by having the 

 last segment of the thorax united with the preceding one, while iu 

 Astacus it is separate. It was therefore considered by Milne-Edwards 

 to be the type of a new genus Homarus. Of this genus, the repre- 

 sentatives of which live exclusively in the sea, three species are known, 

 viz : Homarus americanus Say, i. e., the American lobster, which is con- 

 siderably larger than our common lobster, and is found on the coasts of 

 North America. From this the European Homarus gammarus is only 

 distinguished by having a narrower spine on its forehead, and teeth 

 only on its upper margin, while the former species has also teeth on 

 the lower margin. There is finally the little Homarus capensis, from the 

 Cape of Good Hope, which is not more than five inches loug. The 

 European lobster seems to have its central location on the southwestern 

 coast of Norway, and goes as far north as Finmarken, where, according 

 to Lem, in his description of the Finmarken Laplanders, 1707, it is found 

 north of Traeneu, where he ate very fine ones on the island of Rodo, 

 while formerly their northern limit was thought to be the island of 

 Brondo, but he also thinks that they would be found in Finmarken, 

 if people only searched for them. It is very rarely found on the 

 coasts of Iceland, where, according to Mohr's "Islandske Naturhistorie," 

 it has been found by Dr. Poulseu in Grondevig,butit does not extend to 

 Greenland or Spitsbergen. It does not go into the Baltic, but is found 

 all over the Kattegat, especially near Anholt, Hirsholniene, Laeso, and 

 Hjelm, and, according to Mr. Fiedler's report, in the Great Belt as far 

 as Sprogo. On the coast of Bohuslen it is very common, and is said to 

 go into the Sound as far as the island of Hveen. On the west coast of 

 Jutland, it is found wherever the bottom is stony, and it is very com- 

 mon near Heligoland. It rarely goes into the inlets on our western 

 coasts, chiefly on account of their great depth. It is very rare in the 

 inner portion of the Bay of Christiania, and not very common in the 

 Limfiord. On the coasts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, it is common 

 wherever there is a rocky bottom, especially near Montrose, Orkney, 

 Lewis, and Harris Island, and on the southern coast of England, 



