BUI.LETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
i6o 
Upon the tubercles or around their margins. The last pair of thoracic legs, in the females 
only, bear claws, which led to the fanciful notion that they were used by the mother 
in rupturing the eggs and liberating the young. The eggs are very small, and, as in 
Palinurus, the young issue in the peculiar transparent larva known as phyllosoma. 
The whole front of Palinurus guttatus is armed with stout spines culminating in 
a pair of rostral horns, which in large specimens rise vertically to the height of an inch 
oi;more in parallel planes, thus shielding the eyes and presenting one of the most effective 
types of protective armature to be seen in an adult crustacean. The antennules are 
extremely long and slender, while the antennae have very stout basal stalks, and long 
stiff flagella, encircled at intervals with sharp teeth, like the war mace of a South Sea 
Islander. 
The second segment of the antenna bears a notable structure, usually described 
as a stridulating organ. The inner surface of this division is free, and carries a pad 
and flap which, with the movements of the antenna, plays backward and forward over 
a smooth ridge or track on the somite. The sound, which it is said may be heard in 
or out of water and may be produced artificially after death, is evidently caused by 
friction of the hard chitinous surface of the pad on the track over which it slides. 
(See p. 240.) 
The California spiny lobster, according to Rathbun, may attain a length of 14 
inches, and an average weight of 3T3 pounds, the greatest weight recorded being 
pounds. The usual length of Palinurus vulgaris, as given by Bell (ao)“ in 1853, was 
about a foot, but 18 inches was sometimes reached. His description was from a male 
of the latter size, which weighed 5 pounds. “I can not but think,” said Bell, “that 
Dr. Milne Edwards is greatly mistaken in attributing to individuals of that size a weight 
of from 12 to 15 pounds. ” The Californian langouste is most abundant on the southern 
part of the coast. It is often trapped in great numbers, but even twenty years ago we 
are told by Rathbun that the species was in danger of extermination from overfishing. 
Artificial propagation of the Japanese spiny lobster, Palinurus japonicus Gray, 
was undertaken by the fisheries institute, near Tokyo, previous to 1899, and a report 
of progress was published in that year. Great difficulty was experienced in handling 
the larvae, on account of their minute size and long metamorphosis. The spawning and 
hatching periods of this lobster, as I am informed by Tasute Hattori, who conducted 
the experiments, extend from late April to late September. The larvae were easily 
hatched, but gradually died off after the fifteenth or sixteenth day. No success had 
been attained in 1901, since which time no further information has been received. 
The Nephropsidae, the best known of the Crustacea, on account of their high com- 
mercial value as food, are represented by three species, the Norwegian lobster, Nephrops 
norvegicus Einnaeus, the common lobster of Europe, Homarus gammarus Linnaeus, 
and the common lobster of America, Homarus americanus Milne Edwards. 
The technical names for the lobsters adopted in a former work {149) are here 
retained, pending a decision upon the question by the International Committee on 
Nomenclature of the International Zoological Congress, which met in Boston in 1907. 
“ Italic figures in parentheses refer to works enumerated in the bibliography at the end of this paper. 
