REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. Ill 



or normal claw. They do not lie in exactly parallel planes, but are 

 inclined at a slight angle to each other and in such a way that the 

 dactyls are nearer and the indices farther apart. Again, the com- 

 mon plane of motion for these two claws is at right angles to that of 

 the normal chela. These spatial relations of the claws, together with 

 the fact that the double extra carpopodite also lies at right angles 

 to the corresponding normal segment, are points of considerable 

 theoretical interest and will be discussed again later. Another point 

 of interest is the color relations of the extreme left claw (R^. This 

 claw in its development has become so completely reversed in its 

 position that its normally lower face now lies wppermost, and vice 

 versa. The development of the pigment layers has also been true 

 to this reversal, so that the lower face of the claw as it now lies is 

 much darker than its upper face. 



In brief, then, in this splendid specimen ice have three chelce in 

 place of the normal single one. The three chelce are morphologically 

 distinct, even down to the last proximal segment. Consequently we 

 have here a case of an almost complete " triplication " of this append- 

 age. 



The lobster on which this triple chelae was found was a male and 

 measured about ten inches in length. After autotomously removing 

 the abnormal chela, the lobster was transported to the experiment 

 station at Wickford, R. I., and placed in a floating car. It was 

 hoped that we might be able to keep the lobster alive through the 

 winter in order to see what the next regeneration would produce. 

 But, unfortunately, the animal died on September 13, 1906, so this 

 interesting question remains unanswered. The cause of death is 

 unknown, for another lobster of about equal size was brought by 

 the writer from the Boothbay Hatchery to Wickford at the same 

 time with the above specimen, and kept in the same floating car.* 



*This lobster was a most rare bright blue colored specimen. I removed the right cheliped 

 to see what would be the color of the next regenerated Hmb. By the middle of September the 

 lobster had moulted and regenerated the chela, but it displayed the same bright blue coloration. 

 A further note in regard to this blue lobster may be in place here. It is true that when adult 

 lobsters are exposed to direct sunHght for a time, they frequently fade in color and a.ssume a. 

 bluish tinge. But the present specimen, which was taken by Captain Over in Prospect Harbor 

 Maine, was evidently a case of a "true blue-lobster," whose color was not due to the action of 

 sunlight, but rather'to the fact that the caraface was naturally lacking in certain red pigments, 

 usually found in the shell. 



