COLOE OF THE LOBSTEE. 78^ 



Much of the information regarding large Lobsters was obtained from lobster-dealers, wh( 

 have had them for sale in their markets. A dealer at Kew Haven states that twenty years agf 

 twelve to sixteen pound Lobsters were common, but during the past ten years a Lobster weighing 

 ten pounds has been rarely seen. A Boston dealer writes that during the past season (1880) h( 

 has received and sold several Lobsters weighing from twelve to fifteen pounds each. On th( 

 Nova Scotia coast, ten-pound Lobsters are said to be common now. The dimensions of thest 

 heavy individuals are seldom given. A specimen taken at Boothbay, Maine, and said to weigl 

 between thirty and forty pounds, had such large claws that the meat from one of them was equal 

 to that of an entire ordinary-sized Lobster. Another specimen, weighing thirty-five pounds, had 

 a length of four feet. Seventeen to twenty-four pound Lobsters are stated to measure from three 

 to three and one-half feet long, and ten-pounders from twenty to twenty-four inches. A nineteen 

 pound Lobster, shipped from Eastport, in 1875, measured three feet five inches in length, the 

 claws being eighteen inches long and eight inches across. 



Large Lobsters on the coast of England. — ^Although the European Lobster nevei 

 attains the extreme size of the American, still large individuals are occasionally met with. Mr, 

 Frank Buckland makes the following records of large Lobsters observed on the coast of the 

 British Islands : " The deeper the water and the farther from the shore, the larger are the Lobsters, 

 The Skye and the Orkney Lobsters are probably the largest in the British Islands. At St, 

 Mawe's we heard of two Lobsters, one ten pounds and the other nine and three-fourths pounds, 

 and at Durgan and Sennen of one of thirteen pounds. A large Lobster was caught in a large 

 earthenware pot at Gosport in 1870; he weighed eight pounds ten ounces. In May, 1875, a 

 Lobster, weight twelve pounds, was found at Saint's Bay, Guernsey." Another specimen caughl 

 at Hamble, near Southampton, was said to have weighed fourteen' pounds. 



Color. — ^The color of the Lobster is so varied as to almost defy accurate description, ever 

 in single individuals. It may be described in a general way as consisting of a groundwork ol 

 yellow or yellowish-red, covered with spots or mottlings of green, or more rarely blue. The 

 mottlings are most numerous and dense upon the back, while on the sides of the carapax and 

 lower surfaces of the claws the yellow generally predominates. Along the lower edge of the 

 carapax, on each side, there is quite a broad marginal band of blue or bluish coloration, whicl 

 also extends a short distance up the posterior margin of the carapax. Just above this band 

 which has a distinctly defined edge, the yellow (ranging in intensity from a light yellow to a deej 

 orange) begins, and may be nearly plain for quite a breadth, or become at once covered witl 

 roundish spots of dark green or greenish or brownish olive, which increase in size and becomf 

 more closely placed toward the dorsal surface, where they overlap to such an extent that th< 

 yellow seldom shows through. This combination frequently produces a very dark coloration or 

 the back, which sometimes appears as a greenish-black. Often the entire carapax and abdomet 

 assume a very dark shade over nearly all the sides as well as back. Sometimes the spots ar( 

 fewer in number than ordinary and stand apart from one another, even on the back, producin| 

 the so-called " Spotted Lobsters." The green color is often replaced by different shades of blue 

 Occasionally a reddish coloration will predominate over the entire carapax. The rostrum is oliv< 

 green, the spines it bears being of a deep, rich red. The abdomen corresponds in markings witl 

 the carapax. The depressed line running along the center of the back of the carapax is distinctlj 

 marked, being generally dark green. The tail-flaps are bordered along their posterior margins bj 

 a band of dark olive brown. 



The upper surface of the big claws has a decidedly reddish or orange cast, the color deep 

 ening towards the ends, which are a very deep red, fading out to a whitish color just at the tips 

 50 P 



