NATURAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN LOBSTER. 



195 



pounds. (Table i, no. 15.) There may also be seen in the museum of Bergen, Norway, 



a lobster which Prof. S. O. Sars in 1878 described as an "immense specimen," the living 



weight of which could not have been much over 12 pounds. 



Though it has been an accepted belief that the American lobster attains a greater 



size than its European counterpart, it is possible, in view of comparison of no. 10 and 



no. 16 of table i, that the maximum size of each species is nearly the same. The data 



are not at hand for determining the question with certainty. It seems certain, however, 



that American lobsters of average or medium size are considerably stockier and have 



larger claws than the European, and that length for length, such animals will weigh 



more. The lobster fishery of Europe, though pursued for ages by primitive methods, 



is still very much older than that of America, and it is probable that the larger 



lobsters have been more effectually weeded out there than here. At the time Sars's 



paper was written {244) it would not have occurred to one familiar with the American 



species to speak of a 10 or 12 pound lobster as in any way remarkable, yet at present 



few of this size find their way to our markets. In fact the same gradual falling off, 



due evidently to the same cause, has been experienced for many years in Maine and 



Canada. 



Table i. — ^Record of Giant Lobsters. 



[No. 1-14 refer to Homarus americanus. No. 15-16 to H. gammaTus.] 



o Living weight estimated. 

 62399°~iJ- 



*> Living weight estimated from weight when boiled. <= After Hadley. d Body length estimated. 

 4 



