THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
9 
I will now add a fuller synonymy of the technical names which have been applied 
to the European and American lobsters. 
EUROPEAN SPECIES. 
Astacus 1551. 
Astacus rents 1618. 
Astacus marin us commit nis . 1657. 
Astacus marinus 1553. 
1758. 
1762. 
1777. 
1792. 
1811. 
1838. 
1825. 
1826. 
1842. 
Rondelet (167). 
Aldrovandus (2). 
Jonston (107). 
Beloii (15). 
Seba (179). 
Baster (8). 
Pennant (151). 
Fabricius (64). 
Olivier (143). 
L amarck ( 113) 
[3d ed.]. 
Desmarest (52). 
Risso (166). 
Ratlike (160). 
Cancer gammar us 1761. Linne (123). 
1776. Muller (139). 
1795. Herbst (88) [2d ed.]. 
1829. Latreille(ii,5)[2d ed.]. 
Astacus europeus 1837. Couch (45). 
Homarus vulgaris 1837. Milne Edwards (58). 
1853. Bell (14). 
1863. Heller (87). 
Homarus 'marinus 1868. Bate (10). 
Astacus gammarus 1819. Leach (117). 
1857. White (203). 
1893. Stebbing (186). 
AMERICAN SPECIES. 
Astacus marinus america- 
nus 1758. Seba (179). 
Astacus marinus 1817. Latreille (115) 
[1st ed.]. 
1817. Say (177). 
Homarus americanus . _ 1837. Milne Edwards (5S) 
and most subsequent 
writers. 
Astacus americanus . . . 1893. Stebbing (186). 
Latreille, 1 in 1810, designated as the type of the old genus Astacus the species 
A. fluviatilis Fabricius ( = Cancer astacus Linne), which is the European crayfish. In 
1815 Leach began to dismember this genus by giving to the Norwegian lobster the 
name Nephrons. Later, in 1819 (117), 2 he proposed the generic term Potamobius to 
embrace the true crayfishes, leaving the lobsters alone in possession of the Aristotelian 
name. This division would transfer the type species of Astacus {A. fluviatilis) to the 
genus Potamobius , which is contrary to the rules of zoological nomenclature, and can 
not be accepted. In 1837 the lobsters were placed by Milne Edwards in a distinct 
genus, Homarus , while the elder name was retained for the crayfishes. Spence Bate 
was in favor of uniting the generic name of Milne Edwards to the specific name of 
Fabricius, calling the European species Homarus marinus (Fabr.). The proposal of 
Leach “to use Astacus for the lobsters and to give a new generic name ( Potamobius ) 
to the fresh water crayfishes,” would, in the opinion of Huxley, “ have had the advan- 
tage of retaining the primitive signification of a«T«z«?. But Potamobius had already 
been used in another sense, and the change introduced by Milne Edwards is so gen- 
erally adopted that it would be confusing to attempt any further alteration” (102). 
Previous to 1819 the name Potamobie had been used by Leach 2 3 in a list of the knoAvn 
genera of Crustacea. It was, however, a nomen nudum , which would have permitted 
the use of the name Potamobius for the crayfishes had the genus been correctly formed. 
Stebbing (186), apparently unaware of Latreille’s restriction, proposed to restore the 
old terminology of Leach. 
According to Milne Edwards’s classification, which I have adopted, the common 
European crayfish should be called Astacus astacus (Linn.), the European lobster 
Homarus gammarus (Linn.), and the American lobster Homarus americanus (M. Edw.). 
1 Considerations Generates sur V Or Are Naturel des Anirnawx composant les Classes des Crustaces. des 
Arachnides, et des Insectes, p. 422. Paris, 1810. 
2 George Samouelle’s Entomologist's Useful Compendium, p. 95. London, 1819. 
3 Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles , XII, p. 75, 1818. 
For tlie preceding references I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Walter Faxon and Miss Mary J. 
Ratlibnn, and I desire to acknowledge tlie aid I have received from them on the nomenclature discussed 
in the last two paragraphs of this page. 
