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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
gerated. The total length of the body, measured from the rostral spine to the end of 
the tail-fan, when the tail was naturally articulated with the thorax, was not far from 
20 inches, and not over 21 inches. The length of the large crushing-claw is from 12 
to 13 inches. The cutting-claw is relatively smaller than in any of the large lobsters 
which I have examined, and it seems fairly certain that the living weight of the 
animal could not have much exceeded 20 pounds. 
I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Leslie A. Lee for the measurements of 
the large crushing-claw of a lobster which is preserved m the museum of Bowdoiu 
College, Maine. It was taken from an animal which came from Cape Breton, which 
is said to have weighed 33 pounds 11 ounces. The length of this claw is 13 r \ r inches, 
its breadth 6§ inches, and its girth (measured just behind the first joint) is 16 inches. 
In this case the weight is specifically given, yet it is certainly erroneous. 1 If normally 
formed, this animal probably did not weigh over 23 pounds. I base this opinion upon 
the fact that the Belfast lobster (No. 1, table 30) has a somewhat larger crushing- claw, 
is normally formed, has a hard shell, and therefore could not, in all probability, have 
weighed less and may have weighed more than the specimen from Cape Breton. 
In the museum of Yale University there is preserved the large crushing-claw of 
a lobster, which is said to have weighed 39 pounds. 2 The length of the claw is 12-^- 
inches, the greatest width 6.9 inches, and the greatest girth 16f inches. It is shorter 
by half an inch than the Cape Breton specimen, and but little larger in circumference. 
The length of the crushing chela falls short of the Belfast lobster (No. 1, table 30) by 
one inch. Its weight probably did not much exceed 23 pounds, if at all. 
In the collections of the Smithsonian Institution there is a lobster ivhicli weighed, 
after preservation in alcohol, 9 pounds 14 ounces (No. 7, table 30). 3 The cutting-claw 
on the right side was undersized. A few measurements of this specimen are given 
for purposes of comparison. There is far less difference between some of these and 
corresponding measurements of larger lobsters than one might expect. Thus the 
telson in this case has the same dimensions as in lobster No. 6 (table 30), which 
weighed more than twice as much. 
I was informed by Mr. F. W. Collins that a male lobster which weighed nearly 
25 pounds was taken on a trawl below Monro Island, 5 miles east of Rockland, Maine, 
in the summer of 1890. The large claw is said to have measured 16 inches in girth. 
I heard through Mr. Yinal Edwards of a lobster, said to have weighed 27 pounds, 
which was caught off Breton Reef, Newport, Rhode Island, in June, 1894. This was 
taken by accident, one of its claws having been entangled in a lobster -pot, in 10 to 12 
fathoms of water. It was a male, and its shell was freely sprinkled with barnacles. 4 
I will add a few notes on the occurrence of large lobsters, which I gathered on the 
coast of Maine, in August and September, 1893. I give them upon the testimony of 
others, but believe them trustworthy. 
Mr. J. W. Savage stated that he received from the region of Eastport, Maine, in 
1 Professor Lee writes as follows concerning this specimen: “The large lobster’s claw in our 
museum was obtained many years ago in Cape Breton. It came into our possession in 1881. The 
weight of this animal is not well authenticated on our records.” 
2 I am indebted to Prof. A. E. Verrill for the opportunity of examining this specimen. The 
inscription upon it, which is almost illegible, is as follows: “Boston, Mass., March, 1823; 39 lbs.” 
3 The weight of this lobster was kindly determined by Mr. James E. Benedict of the Smithsonian 
Institution. 
4 1 was unable to obtain any direct information about this lobster, or to verify its weight, which 
I do not consider authentic. 
