110 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
8 pounds 10 ounces. In May, 1875, a lobster, weight 12 pounds, was found at Saints Bay, Guernsey. 
I find a record of a lobster exhibited at Billingsgate July 30, 1842, which measured 2 feet 5^ inches; 
thesize of the body was 16 inches; theclaws measured upward of 14 inches. In August, 1873, a lobster 
weighing 111 pounds, caught in Guernsey, was exhibited by Messrs. Grove, of Bond street. In July, 
1874, a lobster, weight 7£ pounds, was caught on the Fife Banks of the Forth. The lobsters from 
the Lizard ground are one-third heavier than those in Falmouth Bay, but crabs are smaller. 
The largest lobsters that have come under my individual notice are, first, a lobster weighing L0 J 
pounds, sent me from Tenby and now in my museum; secondly, a lobster presented to me by John 
Byatt, of Messrs. Winder’s, Haymarket, measuring 8 inches in the barrel [that is shell of back or 
carapace], the total length being 19-i inches and the weight 9f pounds. In the York Museum there is 
a magnificent specimen of a lobster, of which the following are the dimensions: Barrel, 9£ inches; 
tip of beak to tail, 19.^ inches; 1 left claw, the crusher, leugth 10^ inches; right claw, cutting, length 
101 inches; left claw at widest part, 5 inches. This was an American specimen. 
Another very large lobster we came across in our inquiry was a grand specimen which we exam- 
ined in the house of Mr. Seovell, at Hamble, near Southampton. The following are the dimensions : 
Length of barrel to tip of horn, 9£ inches; length of tail turned under the body, 12 inches; total 
length, 2 feet, all but three-quarters of an inch Right claw, 19^ inches 2 long; girth, 12£ inches; 
weight when killed, 14 pounds. This lobster, Mr. Seovell informs me, was caught in a trammel net on 
the coast of Cornwall. 
Fourteen pounds is the greatest weight recorded in the notes just quoted, and 
European lobsters of this size are undoubtedly very rare. 
In the museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia there is 
preserved a large lobster, Astacus vulgaris , for the particulars concerning which I am 
indebted to the kindness of Professor Ryder. Unfortunately it is not known where 
or when it was captured, nor what its living weight was; but from the measurements 
given below (table 29, No. 1 a) I conclude that it weighed from 21 to 22 pounds. If 
these measurements are compared with those given in table 30, No. 1, it will become 
evident that this specimen could not have weighed less than 20, and not more than 23 
pounds. This specimen has been carefully examined by Professor Ryder, who writes 
that there is no doubt of its belonging to the European species; that it was normal in 
every respect, and that the skeleton is in an admirable state of preservation. 
• Table 29. 
Measurements. 
No. 1 «.—Male; 
20 to 23 pounds ; 
obtained from- 
Europe; pre- 
served in the 
museum of the 
University of 
Pennsylvania. 
No. 2<i.— Male; 
10 pounds; cap- 
tured on coast of 
Norway some 
time between 1850 
and 1865 ; pre- 
served in muse- 
um of Bergen, 
Norway. 
Total length, rostrum to end of telson (not including hairs) . . 
..inches.. 
19.4 
18. 73 
Length of carapace (rostrum to posterior margin) 
do 
9. 29 
8.58 
Large forceps : 
Length of propodus (straight measurement) 
do 
13.1 
10. 23 
Greatest breadth of propodus 
do 
6.8 
4. 32 
Girth of propodus 
16.8 
10. 62 
Small forceps : 
Length of propodus. 
do.... 
12.4 
10. 03 
Breadth of propodus 
do 
4.8 
3.30 
Girth of propodus 
10. 15 
8.07 
1 The claws of this specimen were considerably undersized (compare tables 29 and 30). 
2 This is intended for the measurement of the entire right claw-bearing limb or cheliped; by 
“ total length ” is probably meant, as above, the distance measured from the tips of the extended 
chelipeds to the end of the tail. 
