8 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



Some light is thrown upon this passage by the German translation of Gesner's 

 Historia Animalium, published at Frankfort in 1598, where the lobster is spoken of 

 as Humer oder grossen Meerlcrebs. The Latin name Astacus is also given to it. A 

 paragraph, which I did not find in the original, is as follows : 



These sea-crabs mentioned above, are called by Pliny sea-elephants, on account of their size and 

 strength. They are also regarded by some as sea-lions, and by such names are commonly known at 

 Montpelier. 1 



The lobster was also called by the Greeks xdiJ.iJ.apoc;, Latin gammarus, probably from 

 its arched back, from which Spanish, camaron, and the Italian gambaro are derived. 

 Gesner tells us that the crayfish, was often called simply gambaro, to distinguish it 

 from the lobster gambaro di mari; that to the French and Normans the lobster was 

 known as Homar; to the Germans as Humer. In Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and 

 Germany it is now called Hummer. 2 This in French became Homar d (Homar, Latin- 

 ized form Homar ns). It has been suggested by Boeck that the name may possibly 

 have come from the Norse verb homa, meaning to go backward. 



Gesner adds that the lobster was called by the Venetians astase vecari audio; by 

 the Illyrians, larantola (or caranthola), and by the Swiss, langroit or escreviee de mer. 

 The Dutch call the lobster Zeelcruft or sea-crayfish, while it is known to the Turks of 

 Constantinople as liczuda or Uehuda. 



According to Boeck there are numerous poetical allusions to the lobster in the 

 Eddas and Sagas. Thus the sea is described as "the path of the lobster" in Olaf der 

 Heilige's Saga, and in Olaf Tryggvason's Saga it is said that " the wave-horses run 

 over the fields of the lobster," meaning the ships that sail on the waves. "To be at 

 the bottom with the lobster" is to drown, as in the song of Snigly Holle. "In the 

 Selkolle Songs of Binar Gilson, in Bishop Gudmund's Saga, the term " the light of 

 the lobster," equivalent to the fire of the sea or gold, is used. In the same place the 

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

 there is found in the poem Liknar-braut, the expression "land lobster," meaning a 

 serpent or dragon. (20, p. 224.) 



IV. 



Excluding from our consideration the Palinurus or langouste and the Norwegian 



lobster, Nephrops norvegieus, two species belonging to this genus are now known, 



namely : 



Homarus, Milne Edwards. 



(1) Homarus gammarus (Linn.); —Cancer gammarus (Linn.); 



= Homarus vulgaris (M. Edw.) European Lobster. 



(2) Homarus americanus (M. Edw.) American Lobster. 



A third form, H. eapensis, has been imperfectly described from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, but it is doubtful if it belongs in this genus. (See 102, p. 754, note 4.) 



1 Diese obgenandte Meerkrebsz nennet Plinius Meerhelffant von wegen irer grtisse und stiircke 

 werden sonst auch von etlichen Meerlowen geachtet sind mit solchem Nameu von menniglichen zu 



Mompelier genennt worden Fischbuoh; translated from the original of Conrad Gesner into 



German by Conrad Forer; p. 125; Franckfurt, 1598. 



The animal described and figured on the next page of this work and called the Small Lobster or 

 Small Sea-crab — Astacus marinus parvus — is probably a species of Galatea. Palinurus is described as 

 the Meerstoffel. Synonyms are: A Species of Lobster; A Kind of Large Sea-crab ; Locusta; Carabus. 



2 The old Norwegian and Danish writers, Pantoppidans (1752, 152), Strom (1762), Bomares (1767), 

 and Leems (1767) speak of the lobster as Hummer, while by Olafssens and Povelsens (1772) it is called 

 Hiimar, according to Fabricins. These dates refer to works. For bibliography see Otlio and J. C. 

 Fabricius (63-64). 



