Till', AM Kin CAN LOBSTER. 



113 



"tail" was of a pink color and very lough. The skeleton was perfectly preserved 

 by removing the muscles of the abdomen and the "tomally" or "liver," and some of 

 the other organs of the body. This lobster was a male, and it is a noticeable fact that 

 all very large lobsters which I have records of or have examined belong to the male 

 sex. 1 have never heard of a female lobster which exceeded 18.^ pounds being caught. 

 The total length of this lobster, whose history I have just given, is only 20 inches 

 (measured, as in all cases, from the end of the spine or rostrum to the end of the tail- 

 Ian), but would have been nearly 21 inches had the rostrum been perfect. The body 

 seems surprisingly short for so powerful an animal, and it is in fact in the large claws 

 that the greater part of its weight and strength resides. This may be seen by a 

 comparison of the plates (see also table 31 «), and may be possibly explained by the 

 fact that as age advances the increase in length, at each molt becomes less, while there 

 is a corresponding gain in the size of the claws. Thus Ehrenbauin (61) mentions a 

 lobster 42.2 cm. long, which showed an increase in length of scarcely 1 mm. on molting 

 The length of the crushing-claw of the Belfast lobster is nearly 14 inches, and its 

 greatest girth is 16 A- inches. It was probably powerful enough to crush a man's arm 

 at the wrist. 



Table 30. 



General descriptions : No. 1 was a male, 23 pounds, captured at Belfast, Maine, May 6, 1891. No. 2 was a male, 

 20 to 22 pounds, captured at, Boothbay, Maine, about 1856. No. 3 was a male, 20 to 22 pounds, captured at Salem 

 Massachusetts, iu 1850. No. 4, 23 to 25 pounds, was captured at Gloucester, Massachusetts. No. 5 was a male 20 

 to 22 pounds, captured on the Delaware coast. No. 6 was a male, 20 to 22 pounds, captured at Lubec. Maine, Sep- 

 tember, 1892. No. 7 was a male, 9g pounds, in alcohol. 



Measurements in inches. 



Total length, rostrum to end of telson (not including 



bail's) 



Carapace : 



Length of rostrum 



Length of carapace 



Length of carapace, including rostrum 



Distance from cervical groove to posterior edge of 



carapace 



Greatest breadth 



Breadth bet ween spines, near base of rostrum 



Breadth between spines, near base of second an- 

 tennae 



Girth of carapace behind cervical groove 



Pleon : 



Length of second segment (including facet) 



Breadth of second segment 



Girth of second segment (spine to spine) 



Length of sixth segment (including facet) 



Greatest width of sixth segment 



Length of telson (not including setae) 



Breadth of telson at base 



Antennae: 



Length of stalk of first antenna 



Length of basal segment 



Breadth of basal segment 



Length of eyestalk 



Breadth of eyestalk 



Length of stalk of second antenna 



Length of exopodite (scale) 



Greatest width 



Pereiopods : 

 Large forceps (crushing-claw) — 



Length of propodns (straight measurement) 



Greatest breadth of propodus at level with articu- 

 lation with dactyl 



Girth of propodus just behind articulation of 

 dactyl 



No. 1. 



20 



2ft 

 14$ 



m 

 i 



2ft 

 I 

 1 



13| 

 16* 



No. 2. 



f 20J 



131 



II 

 3il 



81 

 in 

 L iXS 

 3 



2& 

 25 



12J 

 6 

 151 



No. 3. 



t21| 

 2ft 



14 



2i 

 131 



li 

 1ft 



124 



64 



15 



No. 4. 



No. 5. 



13 



*§ 

 17* 



13J 



9J 

 164 



No. 6. 



•"Body nearly straight. 



t Body somewhat bent. 



20| 

 2 



24 

 11 



ia 



i§ 



a 



■4 



4 

 12 



15 



No. 



17$ 



2i 

 21 



10$ 

 13i 



F. C. B. 1895—8. 



