Southern Rock Lobster, Jasus edwardsii novaehollandiae

Plates 149-150. Southern Spiny Lobster (Melbourne Crawfish), Palinurus lalandi (now known as the Southern Rock Lobster, Jasus edwardsii novaehollandiae) found on the rocky coasts of Victoria

This fine and very interesting species has not been properly figured before, and is consequently a source of some perplexity to naturalists. It was first described from the Cape of Good Hope by Prof. Milne Edwards, from the specimens in the Paris Museum named in manuscript P. Lalandi by Lamarck.

I suggest the trivial name of Southern Rock Lobster for this species, which, abounding in Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand, as well as the Cape of Good Hope, (and St. Paul's according to Heller,) does not appear to have been noticed as far north as Sydney, where it is replaced by a totally different species, the Common Sydney Crawfish P. Hügelli, of which I have one specimen from our coast and one from Tasmania, as excessively rare occurrences as stragglers.

Very abundant in pools on the rocky coasts of Victoria, and is the common Melbourne Crawfish of the fishmongers.