Ad 
dl—THE CAPE LOBSTER AND;THE CAPE CRAWFISH 
| BOK SPINY LOBSTER. . 
_ With the meseanéd picspatity of ste Gaze Crawfish Industry 
and placing of large quantities (over 14 million crawfish in 
ey _ 1917) of this article of food on the European Markets in the 
tinned condition the legitimate designation of the animal has 
become an important trade question, and the following account 
of the representatives of lobster and crawfish found in South 
Africa is drawn up by request to indicate the results of recent . 
scientific investigations into this matter. Briefly these are 
that it has been established that a true lobster occurs, though 
rarely, in the South African seas, and that several species of 
crawfish have been found in addition to the onda Cape 
Crawfish or Kreeft. ! 
THE CAPE LOBSTER. 
The first record of this crustacean was in 1796 by Herbst, 
who figured and described it as the ‘‘ Cape Crayfish ” Cancer 
(Astacus) capensis. He states that.“ this beautiful crab 
occurs at the Cape in mountain streams. It is similar indeed 
to our own common crayfish, but is more slender and of equal 
breadth throughout. It is coral red in colour, and has a=: 
beautiful sheen resembling the cornelian. Whether this is its 
natura] colour or whether it is due to cooking T cannot decide. 
The appendages are relatively small. The base of the hand 
(carpus or fifth segment) nearly surpasses the arm (meros or — 
fourth segment), and is strongly tuberculated ; the hands are 
large and are bordered, moreover, with a very delicate raised 
and toothed margin, studded everywhere with yellowish, | 
transparent hairs. The feet are all chelate, while in the com- 
mon crayfish the first pair only have this character,” This — 
first account of the Cape lobster was the beginning of the 
trouble and doubt, which remained attached to the animal 
for the next hundred years. The statement that all the legs 
are provided with claws or chelae, and that the animal lives 
in mountain streams were the chief difficulties in ae way of 
identifying this supposed crayfish. 
The animal is again mentioned under the name Astacus 
capensis in 1803 by Latreille, and, in 1837, Milne-Edwards 
~~apparently decided that the chelate character of all the legs~ 
was an error of observation, for he regards it as a species of 
lobster, which he calls Homarus capensis. His description ~ 
is aS follows :—* Body slender. Rostrum flattened, much © 
shorter than the peduncle of the outer antennae and finely 
denticulated on the edges. Wrist granular, hands elongate, 
DA; 
