110 



BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



8 pounds 10 ounces. In May, 1875, a lobster, weight 12 pounds, was found at Saints Bay, Guernsey. 

 I find a record of a lobster exhibited at Billingsgate July 30, 1842, which measured 2 feet 5+ inches; 

 the size of the body was 16 inches ; the claws measured upward of 14 inches. In August, 1873, a lobster 

 weighing 11^- pounds, caught in Guernsey, was exhibited by Messrs. Grove, of Bond street. In July, 

 1874, a lobster, weight 7-£ pounds, was caught on the Fife Banks of the Forth. The lobsters from 

 the Lizard ground are one-third heavier than those in Falmouth Bay, but crabs are smaller. 



The largest lobsters that have come under my individual notice are. first, a lobster weighing 10£ 

 pounds, sent me from Tenby and now in my museum; secondly, a lobster presented to me by John 

 Byatt, of Messrs. Winder's, Haymarket, measuring 8 inches in the barrel [that is shell of back or 

 carapace], the total length being 19^ inches and the weight 9% pounds. In the York Museum there is 

 a magnificent specimen of a lobster, of which the following are the dimensions: Barrel, 9^ inches; 

 tip of beak to tail, 19 A inches; ' left claw, the crusher, length 10| inches; right claw, cutting, length 

 10A inches; left claw at widest part, 5 inches. This was an American specimen. 



Another very large lobster we came across in our inquiry was a grand specimen which we exam- 

 ined in the house of Mr. Scovell, at Hamble, near Southampton. The following are the dimensions: 

 Length of barrel to tip of horn, 9^ inches; length of tail turned under the body, 12 inches; total 

 length, 2 feet, all but three-quarters of an inch Right claw, 19A inches- long; girth, 12jr inches; 

 weight when killed, 14 pounds, This lobster, Mr. Scovell informs me, was caught in a trammel net on 

 the coast of Cornwall. 



Fourteen pounds is the greatest weight recorded in the notes just quoted, and 

 European lobsters of this size are undoubtedly very rare. 



In the museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia there is 

 preserved a large lobster, Astacus vulgaris, for the particulars concerning which I am 

 indebted to the kindness of Professor Ryder. Unfortunately it is not known where 

 or when it was captured, nor what its living weight was; but from the measurements 

 given below (table 29, No. 1 a) I conclude that it weighed from 21 to 22 pounds. If 

 these measurements are compared with those given in table 30, No. 1, it will become 

 evident that this specimen could not have weighed less than 20, and not more than 23 

 pounds. This specimen has been carefully examined by Professor Ryder, who writes 

 that there is no doubt of its belonging to the European species; that it was normal in 

 every respect, and that the skeleton is in an admirable state of preservation. 



Tablk 29. 



Measurements. 



Total length, rostrum to end of telson (not including hairs) inches- 

 Length of carapace (rostrum to posterior margin) do... 



Large forceps : 



Length of propodus (straight measurement) do... 



Greatest breadth of propodus do — 



Girth of propodus do... 



Small forceps : 



Length of propodus do 



Breadth of propodus , do... 



Girth of propodus do... 



No. 1 a.— Male; 



20 to 23 pounds; 

 obtained from- 

 Europe; pre- 

 served in the 



museum of the 

 University of 

 Pennsylvania. 



19.4 

 9.29 



13.1 

 6.8 

 16.8 



12.4 



4.8 



10.15 



No. 2a.-Male; 

 10 pounds; cap- 

 tured on coast of 



Norway somo 

 time between 1850 

 and 1865 ; pre- 

 served in muse 

 um of Bergen, 

 Norway. 



18.73 

 8.58 



10.23 

 4.32 

 10.62 



10.03 

 3.30 

 8.07 



1 The claws of this specimen were considerably undersized (compare tables 29 and 30). 



2 This is intended for the measurement of the entire right claw-bearing limb or cheliped; by 

 " total length " is probably meant, as above, the distance measured from the tips of the extended 

 chelipeds to the end of the tail. 



