Boone, Crustacea, Cruises of ''Eagle" and ''Ara," 1921-28 95 



Family: NEPHROPSIDAE. 



Genus : HOMARUS H. Milne Edwards. 

 Homarus americanus H. Milne Edwards. 



Plate 27. 



Type: Described with no locality other than as indicated in the 

 specific name ; deposited in the Paris Museum. 



Distribution : Labrador to Delaware, from the tide-line to depths 

 of 100 fms. 



Material examined : One huge specimen from Eastport, Maine, and 

 one very young specimen from the coast of Maine, also a very large 

 dry specimen from the New England coast. 



Color: The color of this lobster is quite variable. The more com- 

 mon form is a deep mottled bluish-green, the green a rich dark shade, 

 the mottlings more abundant on the median dorsal surface, while the 

 sides and lower surfaces have a yellow tone predominating. The spines 

 of the rostrum, denticles on the carapace, and teeth on the claws are 

 a vivid orange-red, also the tips of the other legs. The relatively soft 

 skin covering the under parts of the abdomen and the swimmerets 

 are salmon-pink and the many clusters of setae on other parts of 

 the body are ruby-red. 



Life history : See Herrick 's exhaustive treatise. 



Technical description: This large, abundant, commercially im- 

 portant macruran is the well known "New England lobster," the only 

 species in a strictly American genus. Specimens attaining a maximum 

 of thirty pounds have been authentically recorded, although those 

 usually taken for market average between one and three pounds 

 weight. 



The carapace is very robust, with the rostrum extending beyond the 

 antennal peduncle, directed straight forward, except the acuminate 

 tip, which is slightly upcurved and armed on each superior lateral 

 margin with two or three denticles. The carapace is smooth, except 

 for the well-defined cervical groove. The supraorbital and first an- 

 tennal spines are small ; the supraorbital spine is set well back upon 

 the carapace, and a short carina composed of coarse denticles runs 

 back from it for a short distance. The posterior margin of the cara- 

 pace is accentuated by a flat carina set off anteriorly by a groove. 

 The first abdominal segment is the shortest of the series ; the second 

 segment is the longest and has also the broadest epimera; the third 

 segment is two-thirds as long as the second ; the fourth segment is two- 



