. Natural history of the American Decapoda (Crustacea); Lobster fisheries. 272 BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. cracker, as in this case, and in giants the difference is sometimes striking. The dry shell of this crusher is so dense and strong that it will bear the weight of a man of average size without giving way. The measurements of these claws are as follows: Crushing claw: Length propodus inches Greatest breadth Greatest girth Contents cubic centimeters Weight of shell (8X oz) grams Toothed forceps: Length propodus inches Greatest breadth Greatest girth C
. Natural history of the American Decapoda (Crustacea); Lobster fisheries. 272 BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES. cracker, as in this case, and in giants the difference is sometimes striking. The dry shell of this crusher is so dense and strong that it will bear the weight of a man of average size without giving way. The measurements of these claws are as follows: Crushing claw: Length propodus inches Greatest breadth Greatest girth Contents cubic centimeters Weight of shell (8X oz) grams Toothed forceps: Length propodus inches Greatest breadth Greatest girth Contents cubic centimeters Weight of shell (4>i oz.) grams sy2 680 235 320 116 The armature of this cracker claw (fig. 2 and 3, pi. xuii) is typical and does not essentially differ from that found in giant lobsters weighing upward of 25 Fig. 25.—Armature of right crusher of female lobster 35 mm. long, and at approximately the tenth stage, showing origin of "molars" by fusion of spines. The proximal tubercle of the propodus ip (Z.)) is de- rived from the lock spine, while the distal (d) is composed of a fused mass of over a dozen teeth, embrao* ing the whole of period n, and part of m. of claw mm. As in their case also the blunted end of the dactyl meets the big distal "molar" of the propodus, which, in the Belfast lobster, is worn flat and is i^ inches long by iX inches broad. The dactyl in the slenderer claw is considerably longer, and as noticed above in mammoth lobsters the toothed forceps tends to surpass the crusher in length. Since writing the preceding paragraph I have had the opportunity of reexamining the New Jersey lobster, which holds the record for size and weight (see no. 9, table i), and find that the great claws which here reach the extreme known development of such organs, conform to the types already described and to conditions met with in mam-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images th
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