PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 159 
otherwise it will not reach the water which is necessary for the develop- 
ment of the fatal gas. 
In view of the disadvantages which the use of these poisons would 
involve, the most practical and economical means of controlling the 
crab-pest in this country would be simultaneous and regular collection 
by the cultivators of a locality where the pest is particularly prevalent 
and troublesome, at least during Kason and Nayon. 
The use of earthen pots as traps seems a good idea and this might Mr. Fletcher. 
be tried in Madras. ; 
With reference to the idea that crabs come in from higher levels Mr. Ghosh. 
with the irrigation water, their appearance and disappearance in the 
fields may. I think, be connected with the fact that crabs hibernate 
and estivate in the ground. Many years ago I saw a crab resting 
in a cell at a depth of about four or five feet in the middle of a field 
where a well was being sunk. This was about April or May. 
Apus cancriformis may be considered here. In May 1911 we re- Mr. Fletcher. 
ceived from the Settlement Commissioner, Jammu and Kashmir State, 
a parcel of specimens of Apus with the information that these animals, 
locally called pahar, occasionally do much damage to rice seedlings in 
the Banihal Ilaka south of the Pir Panjal range at a height of about 
6,000 feet. The damage occurs in the first few days only of growth, 
mainly where the irrigation water is particularly cold, and is greater 
when the winter snow-fall is exceptionally heavy and melts late. This 
Apus is not known to occur at all in the extensive areas under rice in 
the Kashmir Valley, which is divided from the Banihal Ilaka by the 
Pir Panjal range, in this part from 9,200 to 14,000 feet in height ; nor 
does it seem to occur in the lower hills to the south. 
The local method of control employed is to let the water out of the 
fields for some time. If still present after this, it is collected by hand 
and thrown out in the sun or into the nearest stream. 
They are said to occur to some extent every year at the time of 
rice sowings but disappear again after a week or two. In 1912 they 
appeared between 21st and 28th June in Banihal villages of the Ram- 
ban tahsil, but are said to appear in the fields from April to June, but 
not to be seen at all during the other nine months of the year. 
I have here some specimens of this animal [handed arownd for exhi- 
bition]. From a zoological view point it is of very great interest. In 
Europe it is found in muddy ponds and appears in a peculiarly inter- 
mittent manner. One year it may be found in abundance in a parti- 
cular pond and diligent search will fail to reveal it there year after year 
afterwards, until suddenly it again appears in plenty. Apus, in fact, 
is generally looked on as a distinct rarity, only intermittently abundant, 
