8 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Some light is thrown upon this passage by the German translation of Gesner’s 
Historia Animalimn, published at Frankfort in 1598, where the lobster is spoken of 
as Sumer oder grossen Meerhrebs. The Latin name Astacus is also given to it. A 
paragraph, which 1 did not find in the original, is as follows: 
These sea-crabs mentioned above, are called by Pliny sea-elephants, on account of their size and 
strength. They are also regarded by some as sea-lions, and by such names are commonly known at 
Montpelier. 1 
The lobster was also called by the Greeks xdppapo^ , Latin gammarus , probably from 
its arched back, from which Spanish, camaron , and the Italian gambaro are derived. 
Gesner tells us that the crayfish, was often called simply gambaro , to distinguish it 
from the lobster gambaro di marl; that to the French and Normans the lobster was 
known as Somar; to the Germans as Hamer. In Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and 
Germany it is now called Hummer . 2 This in French became Homard (Homar, Latin- 
ized form Homarus). It has been suggested by Boeck that the name may possibly 
have come from the Norse verb homo, meaning to go backward. 
Gesner adds that the lobster was called by the Venetians astase vecari audio; by 
the Illyrians, larantola (or caranthola ), and by the Swiss, langroit or escrevice de mer. 
The Dutch call the lobster Zeekruft or sea-crayfish, while it is known to the Turks of 
Constantinople as liczuda or lichuda. 
According to Boeck there are numerous poetical allusions to the lobster in the 
Eddas and Sagas. Thus the sea is described as “the path of the lobster” in Olaf der 
Heilige’s Saga, and in Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga it is said that “ the wave-horses run 
over the fields of the lobster,” meaning the ships that sail on the waves. “To be at 
the bottom with the lobster” is to drown, as in the song of Snigly Holle. “In the 
Selkolle Songs of Einar Gilson, in Bishop Gudmund’s Saga, the term “the light of 
the lobster,” equivalent to the fire of the sea or gold, is used. In the same place the 
expression, “the horse of the lobster mountain,” meaning the ship, is used. Finally 
there is found in the poem Liknar- brant, the expression “land lobster,” meaning a 
serpent or dragon. (20, p. 224.) 
IV. 
Excluding from our consideration the Palinurus or langouste and the Norwegian 
lobster, Nephrops norvegicus , two species belonging to this genus are now known, 
namely : 
Homaktjs, Milne Edwards. 
(1) Homarus gammarus (Linn.); = Cancer gammarus (Linn.); 
—Homarus vulgaris (M. Edw.) European Lobster. 
(2) Homarus americanus (M. Edw.) American Lobster. 
A third form, H. capensis, has been imperfectly described from the Cape of Good 
Hope, but it is doubtful if it belongs in this genus. (See 102, p. 754, note 4.) 
1 Diese obgenandte Meerkrebsz ueunet Plinius Meerhelffant von wegen irer grdsse und stiircke 
werden sonst auck von etlichen Meerldwen geacbtet siud mit solchein Namcn von menniglicken zu 
Moinpelier genennt worden Fischbucli; translated from the original of Conrad Gesner into 
German by Conrad Forer; p. 125; Franckfurt, 1598. 
Tbe animal described and figured on the next page of this work and called the Small Lobster or 
Small Sea-crab — Astacus mar inus parvus — is probably a species of Galatea. Palinurus is described as 
the Meerstoffel. Synonyms are: A Species of Lobster; A Kind of Large Sea-crab; Locusta; Carabus. 
- The old Norwegian and Danish writers, Pantoppidaus (1752, 152), Strom (1762), Boniares (1767), 
and Leems (1767) speak of the lobster as Hammer , while by Olafssens and Povelsens (1772) it is called 
Humar, according to Fabricius. These dates refer to works. For bibliography see Otho and J. C. 
Fabricins (63-64). 
