Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
September 1783
Primary Source Reference:
Du Simitière Memorandum Books, Library of Congress, fol. 69r
Notes:
These crabs may have come from Black Point, N.J., a peninsula about five miles north of present-day Atlantic City. The Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), also known as the American horseshoe crab, is a species of marine and brackish chelicerate arthropod. Despite their name, horseshoe crabs are more closely related to spiders, ticks, and scorpions than to crabs.
The donor, Thomas Mifflin (1744-1800), was an American merchant, soldier, and politician from Philadelphia. He was the first Governor of Pennsylvania (1790 to 1799).
Du Simitière's Common Name:
Horse shoe crab
Current Common Name:
Atlantic horseshoe crab
Current Scientific Name
Limulus polyphemus
