THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 9 



1 will now add a fuller synonymy of the technical names which have been applied 

 to the European and American lobsters. 



EUROPEAN" STECIES. 



AsiacitH 1551. Rondelet (tn: ). Cancer gammarus 1761. Linnd {123) 



Astacus vent* 1618. Aldrovandus i 



Astacus marinus communis. 1657. Jonston (107 ). 



Astacus marinus 1553. Belon {15). 



1758. Seba (179). 



177ii. Miiller i 139). 



1795. Herbst (88) [2d ed.]. 



1829. Latreille(i/5)[2ded. | 



Astacus europeus 1837. Couch (45 i. 



1762. Baster (5). Homarus vulgaris 1837. Milne Edwards (58). 



1777. Pennant (151). 1853. Bell (14). 



1863. Heller (87). 



Homarus marinus 1868. Bate (10). 



dstacns gammarus 1819. Leach (117). 



1857. White (203). 

 1893. Stebbing (186). 



1792. Fabricius (64) 

 1811. Olivier (143). 

 1838. Lamarck (113) 

 [3d ed.]. 



1825. Desmarest (52). 



1826. Risso (166'). 

 1842. Ratlike (160). 



AMERICAN SPECIES. 



Astacus marinus america- 



nus 1758. Seba (179). 



Astacus marinus 1817. Latreille (115) 



[1st ed.]. 

 1817. Say (177). 



Horn ar u s americanus . .1837 '. Milne Edwards (58) 



.iiid most subsequent 

 writers. 



Astacus americanus . ..1893. .Stebbing (1S6). 



Latreille, 1 in 1810, designated as the type of the old genus Astacus the species 

 A. fluviatilis Fabricius ( = Cancer astacus Linne), which is the European crayfish. In 

 1815 Leach began to dismember this genus by giving to the Norwegian lobster the 

 name Nephrons. Later, in 1819 (117), 2 he proposed the generic term Potamobius to 

 embrace the true crayfishes, leaving the lobsters alone in possession of the Aristotelian 

 name. This division would transfer the type species of Astacus (A. fluviatilis) to the 

 genus Potamobius, which is contrary to the rules of zoological nomenclature, and can 

 not be accepted. In 1837 the lobsters were placed by Milne Edwards in a distinct 

 genus, Homarus, while the elder name was retained for the crayfishes. Spence Bate 

 was in favor of uniting the generic name of Milne Edwards to the specific name of 

 Fabricius, calling the European species Homarus marinus (Fabr.). The proposal of 

 Leach "to use Astacus for the lobsters and to give a new generic name (Potamobius) 

 to the fresh-water crayfishes," would, in the opinion of Huxley, " have had the ad van 

 tage of retaining the primitive signification of aarar.oq. But Potamobius had already 

 been used in another sense, and the change introduced by Milne Edwards is so gen- 

 erally adopted that it would be confusing to attempt any further alteration " (102). 

 Previous to 1819 the name Potamobie had been used by Leach 3 in a list of the known 

 genera of Crustacea. It was, however, a nomen nudum, which would have permitted 

 the use of the name Potamobius for the crayfishes had the genus been correctly formed. 

 Stebbing (186), apparently unaware of Latreille's restriction, proposed to restore the 

 old terminology of Leach. 



According to Milne Edwards's classification, which I have adopted, the common 

 European crayfish should be called Astacus astacus (Linn.), the European lobster 

 Homarus gammarus (Linu.),and the American lobster Homarus americanus (M. Edw.). 



1 Considerations Gene'rales sur VOrdre Naturel dcs Animaux composant les Classes des CrustacSs, des 

 Arachnides, et des Insectes, p. 422. Paris, 1810. 



2 George Samouelle 's Entomologist's Useful Compendium, p. 95. London, 1819. 



3 Dictionnaire des Sciences Xaturelles, XII, p. 75. 1818. 



For the preceding references I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. "Walter Faxon and Miss Mary J. 

 Rathbun, and I desire to acknowledge the aid I have received from them on the nomenclature discussed 

 in the last two paragraphs of this page. 



