92 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



seconds, when it suddenly doubled up and dropped to the bot- 

 tom of its burrow. There elapsed some three or four minutes 

 between each appearance ; but every time it came it brought a 

 ball of clay and deposited it in the manner I have described. 

 About two-fifths of the balls were not placed with sufficient 

 care, and rolled down the outside of the chimney." 



He believes that the closing of the orifice of the chimney is 

 merely the result of the accidental falling in of pellets from the 

 rim. In some localities where the burrowing crayfish abounds, 

 there is a weather proverb to the effect that, when the crayfish 

 closes the opening of his chimney in dry weather, there will be 

 a rainfall within twenty-four hours. 



Faxon ('85) characterizes C. diogenes as "preeminently a 

 burrowing species, being found in meadows and clay bottoms, 

 often at a great distance from any permanent stream." He 

 quotes much of Girard ('52), and reviews Tarr ('84), and Ab- 

 bott ('84), and states that he has been informed by Mr. P. R. 

 Uhler that during the period of incubation the female goes into 

 pools, ditches and quiet waters along the margin of overflowing 

 creeks. He reviews Abbott ('85 ) . 



Holder ('86) discusses some habits of the crayfish, unfortu- 

 nately omitting the name of the species. It was, however, 

 probably C. diogenes or C. gracilis. 



His observations were made in northern Illinois. Here he 

 saw patches, sometimes several acres in extent, almost com- 

 pletely covered with small mounds eight to twelve inches high 

 and six to twelve inches in diameter, flat on top, and nearly 

 always grassed over the entire surface. So close were they 

 that he could walk for considerable distance by stepping from 

 one to the other. 



He noticed that in these places the greatest number of mounds 

 were usually close to a sluggish stream or low, damp place, ra- 

 diating up the slope from here, the most distant heaps being 

 perhaps 200 feet away. The animals were discovered by dig- 

 ging. 



On the bank of a small river that flows through the prairie 

 north of Freeport, he found numerous "heaps" formed in the 

 black, clay mud, about four or five feet above the water-level. 

 Nearly every one of these contained a crayfish living in water 

 that "must have come from above," since the holes had no 



