PALINURUS VULGARIS. 
Tas. XXX. 
P. spinis superocularibus subtus dentatis; segmentis abdominis sulco transverso, medio inter~ 
rupto, maculaque utrinque albido. 
Astacus Homarus. Penn. Brit. Zool. iv. 16. pl. xi. fig. 22. 
Palinurus vulgaris. Zatr. Gen. Crust. et Insect. 1. 48. 
Leach Edinb. Encycl. vii. 397. 
Palinurus Homarus. Leach Edinb. Encycl. vu. 397. 
— Trans. Linn. Soe. xi. 339. 
Fig. sup. Palinurus vulgaris magnit. natural. Fig. infer. Palpus pediformis. 
Palinurus vulgaris is very common on the western coasts of England, and is sold in the 
London markets under the name of thorny lobster and cray-fish. It often grows to the length of 
eighteen or twenty inches, and is very rarely found of the small size given in the annexed plate. 
Pennant and Latreille are the only authors to whom I can refer for this species. Linné, in 
the description of his Cancer Homarus, has given a generic character, and he refers to figures of 
at least two species; the one inhabiting the Asiatic, the other the American Seas. 
This species is very variable in its colors; all the specimens that I have seen, however, had 
a whitish or cream-colored spot on each side of the back of the abdomen. In our figure the 
most common variety of color is given, and the whole has been executed with the greatest 
care and attention, that no doubt may hereafter arise as to the exact species intended. 
