l6o BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



upon the tubercles or around their margins. The last pair of thoracic legs, in the females 

 only, bear claws, which led to the fanciful notion that they were used by the mother 

 in rupturing the eggs and liberating the young. The eggs are very small, and, as in 

 Palinurus, the young issue in the peculiar transparent larva known as phyllosoma. 



The whole front of Palinurus guttatus is armed with stout spines culminating in 

 a pair of rostral horns, which in large specimens rise vertically to the height of an inch 

 or more in parallel planes, thus shielding the eyes and presenting one of the most effective 

 types of protective armature to be seen in an adult crustacean. The anteimules are 

 extremely long and slender, while the antennae have very stout basal stalks, and long 

 stiff flagella, encircled at intervals with sharp teeth, Uke the war mace of a South Sea 

 Islander. 



The second segment of the antenna bears a notable structure, usually described 

 as a stridulating organ. The inner surface of this division is free, and carries a pad 

 and flap which, with the movements of the antenna, plays backward and forward over 

 a smooth ridge or track on the somite. The sound, which it is said may be heard in 

 or out of water and may be produced artificially after death, is evidently caused by 

 friction of the hard chitinous surface of the pad on the track over which it slides. 

 (See p. 240.) 



The California spiny lobster, according to Rathbun, may attain a length of 14 

 inches, and an average weight of 3^ pounds, the greatest weight recorded being 11^ 

 pounds. The usual length of Palinurus vulgaris, as given by Bell {20Y in 1853, was 

 about a foot, but 18 inches was sometimes reached. His description was from a male 

 of the latter size, which weighed 5 pounds. "I can not but think," said Bell, "that 

 Dr. Milne Edwards is greatly mistaken in attributing to individuals of that size a weight 

 of from 12 to 15 pounds. " The Califomian langouste is most abundant on the southern 

 part of the coast. It is often trapped in great numbers, but even twenty years ago we 

 are told by Rathbun that the species was in danger of extermination from overfishing. 



Artificial propagation of the Japanese spiny lobster, Palinurus japonicus Gray, 

 was undertaken by the fisheries institute, near Tokyo, previous to 1899, and a report 

 of progress was published in that year. Great difi&culty was experienced in handling 

 the larvae, on account of their minute size and long metamorphosis. The spawning and 

 hatching periods of this lobster, as I am informed by Tasute Hattori, who conducted 

 the experiments, extend from late April to late September. The larvae were easUy 

 hatched, but gradually died off after the fifteenth or sixteenth day. No success had 

 been attained in 1901, since which time no further information has been received. 



The Nephropsidae, the best known of the Crustacea, on account of their high com- 

 mercial value as food, are represented by three species, the Norwegian lobster, Nephrops 

 norvegicus Linnaeus, the common lobster of Europe, Homarus gammarus Linnaeus, 

 and the common lobster of America, Homarus americanus Milne Edwards. 



The technical names for the lobsters adopted in a former work {149) are here 

 retained, pending a decision upon the question by the International Committee on 

 Nomenclature of the International Zoological Congress, which met in Boston in 1907. 



"Italic figures in parentheses refer to works enumerated in the bibliography at the end of this paper. 



