THE AMERICAN LOBSTER. 
113 
“tail” was of a pink color and very tougli. The skeleton was perfectly preserved 
by removing the muscles of the abdomen and the “tomallv” or “liver,” and some of 
the other organs of the body. This lobster was a male, and it is a noticeable fact that 
all very large lobsters which I have records of or have examined belong to the male 
sex. I have never heard of a female lobster which exceeded 184 pounds being caught. 
The total length of this lobster, whose history I have just given, is only 20 inches 
(measured, as in all cases, from the end of the spine or rostrum to the end of the tail- 
fan), but would have been nearly 21 inches had the rostrum been perfect. The body 
seems surprisingly short for so powerful an animal, and it is in fact in the large claws 
that the greater part of its weight and strength resides. This may be seen by a 
comparison of the plates (see also table 31 a), and may be possibly explained by the 
fact that as age advances the increase in length at each molt becomes less, while there 
is a corresponding gain in the size of the claws. Thus Ehrenbaum (61) mentions a 
lobster 42.2 cm. long, which showed an increase in length of scarcely 1 mm. on molting 
The length of the crushing-claw of the Belfast lobster is nearly 14 inches, and its 
greatest girth is 164 inches. It was probably powerful enough to crush a man’s arm 
at the wrist. 
Table 30. 
General descriptions : No. 1 was a male, 23 pounds, captured at Belfast, Maine, May 6, 1891. No. 2 was a male, 
20 to 22 pounds, captured at Boot.hbay, Maine, about 1856. No. 3 was a male, 20 to 22 pounds, captured at Salem, 
Massachusetts, in 1850. No. 4, 23 to 25 pounds, was captured at Gloucester, Massachusetts. No. 5 was a male, 20 
to 22 pounds, captured on the Delaware coast. No. 6 was a male, 20 to 22 pounds, captured at Lubec, Maine, Sep- 
tember, 1892. No. 7 was a male, 9J pounds, in alcohol. 
Measurements in inches. 
Total length, rostrum to end of telson (not including 
hairs) 
Carapace : 
Length of rostrum 
Length of carapace - 
Length of carapace, including rostrum 
Distance from cervical groove to posterior edge of 
carapace 
Greatest breadth 
Breadth between spines, near base of rostrum 
Breadth between spines, near base of second an- 
tennse 
Girth of carapace behind cervical groove 
Pleon : 
Length of second segment (including facet) 
Breadth of second segment. 
Girth of second segment (spine to spine) 
Length of sixth segment (including facet) 
Greatest width of sixth segment 
Length of telson (not including setae) 
Breadth of telson at base - 
Antenn* : 
Length of stalk of first antenna 
Length of basal segment 
Breadth of basal segment 
Length of eyestalk 
Breadth of eyestalk 
Length of stalk of second antenna 
Length of exopodite (scale) 
Greatest width 
Pereiopods : 
Large forceps (crushing-claw) — 
Length of propodus (straight measurement) 
Greatest breadth of propodus at level with articu- 
lation with dactyl 
Girth of propodus just behind articulation of 
dactyl 
No. 1. 
2 
141 
11 
4 
1 J 3 
A lli 
13| 
7| 
16i 
No. 2. 
*201 
24 
131 
If 
fl! 
11! 
3 
2| 
2 4 
12! 
6 
151 
* Body nearly straight. 
tBody somewhat bent. 
No. 3. 
No, 4. 
No. 5. 
No. 6. 
No. 7. 
1 21| 
20§ 
17J 
2iV 
2 
8 I 6 0 
934 
91 
3ili 
3# 
1* 
2 £ 
If 
2g- 
1* 
2£ 
13! 
11 
2 
ii 
3§ 
8 A 
H 
8§ 
14 
2§ 
2b 
2 A 
21 
2| 
2i 
4 
1 
1£ 
i 
I 
If 
Itc 
If 
a 
4 
12! 
13 
134 
12 
101 
6 A 
ii 
9 A 
9! 
54 
15 
174 
164 
15 
134 
S'. C. B, 1895—8, 
