11.-THE TRANSPLANTING OF LOBSTERS TO THE PACIFIC COAST OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 
BY RICHARD RATHBUN. 
INTRODUCTION. 
This paper has been prepared chiefly for the purfiose of recording in convenient 
form for reference the several attempts that have been made to introduce the Amer- 
ican lobster {Homarus americanus) on the western coast of the United States. It 
seems appropriate, however, that the detailed account of the shiiiments should be pre- 
ceded by a few general remarks. 
The genuine lobsters of the North Atlantic Ocean have no true representatives on 
the Pacific coast of the North American continent, where the only crustacean north of 
Point Conception, California, now deemed worthy of commercial recognition is the 
large crab {Cancer magister). South of Point Conception we find the so-called spiny 
lobster, or salt-water cray fish ( PanuUrus interruptus), which ranges southward to 
Mexico, This species, which is very unlike the Eastern lobster, occurs abundantly in 
some localities, where it is much sought for as an article of food, supplies also being 
sent to the San Francisco markets. The omission of the true lobster from the aquatic 
fauna of the Pacific coast has been considered by the inhabitants of that region a 
great misfortune, and while its absence causes neither suffering nor affliction, it is 
much desired both as an article of commerce and as an added variety to the food 
supply. Demands have been made upon the Government to attempt its colonization 
there, and the State of California has several times lent its aid in the matter, both by 
independent action and by co-operation with the U. S. Fish Commission. The scheme 
has received the approval of high authorities, and the benefits to be derived from the 
introduction of so useful a species is generally admitted. 
Before engaging in so difficult and expensive an enterprise it is important that it 
should have careful consideration both as to its utility and its promises of success, and 
this it has received, especially since the matter was taken in hand by the General 
Government. Some persons not acquainted with the facts have deprecated the 
transplanting of the east coast species on the assumption that the west coast already 
has its lobster in the PanuUrus, already referred to. The so-called spiny lobsters, or 
langoustes of the French, form a large and conspicuous group distributed through- 
out the warmer jiarts of the globe. In the North Atlantic we have two well-known 
species, one inhabiting southern Europe, the other the Southern United States, the 
West Indies, etc. Both of these are highly prized for food, but the American species 
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