NATURAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
199 
was then dead and partly dried out, the owner claiming that it had shrunk 2.62 inches in 
consequence. It is hardly necessary to show that this was impossible, since the body 
of a lobster can be distended at only one point, namely, at the articulation of the carapace 
and the tail, and there only to the limit of the articular membrane, which is inelastic. 
Drying would tend rather to contract this membrane and to give more accurately the 
true length, but the difference would not in any case be very great. The measurements 
taken from the dead shell show that this animal probably did not weigh over 25 to 28 
pounds. In his letter to Dr. Smith Mr. Blackford remarked that the owner asked the 
modest sum of $250 for the specimen. We do not know what finally became of it. 
In August, 1891, according to Mr. F. W. Collins, a lobster of undetermined sex was 
caught at Blue Hill Falls, Maine, which weighed 18.5 pounds, and in November, 1892, a 
perfect female lobster weighing 18 pounds was taken at Green Island, Maine. This 
outer island has long been noted for its fine lobster fishing. Mr. Collins stated that in 
August, 1891, he had 50 lobsters at one time in his establishment which would weigh 
from 10 to 18.5 pounds. About half of these came from Castine and the remainder from 
Blue Hill Falls. All of them were “new shell lobsters,” or those which had shed in the 
year, probably in July. 
After the lobster has attained a length of 20 inches and a corresponding weight of 
23 to 25 pounds or more, we may be certain that the stage periods, or intervals between 
each molt, are long, and probably several years apart, and that this interval is gradually 
increased with advancing years. The relative increase in length seems to slow up with 
increasing age, but volumetric increase still goes on, and the animal becomes stockier 
and its big claws more powerful. There is no fixed limit to age, growth, or molting 
power, but the practical limit is probably not far from that of the largest animal on 
record. Whether giant or pigmy, the fighting strength is apparently renewed at each 
molt, when a brand new suit of armor is acquired. 
The shell of the crusher claw of the Salem lobster (for full-sized drawing, see 149 , 
pi. 15) weighed but a trifle over a pound, and the living weight of this animal is now 
estimated at about 28 pounds. The skeleton of the crusher of a 12 to 15 pound 
lobster with very dense shell weighed 8.25 ounces. The Salem lobster had probably 
molted within less than 3 months from the time it was caught. The Lubec lobster 
(no. 7) had a clean shell, which indicated that not over 6 months had intervened 
between the time of its capture and the last molt. It was light for its length and 
the most perfectly proportioned large specimen I have seen. 
In general it is undoubtedly true that the older the adult lobster the longer its 
stage periods and the less the increase at each molt. Yet it is almost equally certain 
that both may vary greatly in the giant as in the pigmy. At present our data regarding 
the molting of large lobsters is insufficient to enable us to estimate their age. Giants 
weighing from 25 to 35 pounds have possibly weathered the storms of life for half a 
century or more. 
