ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

 BULLETIN 



Published by the Neiv York Zoological Society 



Vol. XVI 



NOVEMBER 1912 



Number 54 



THE CRAYFISH 



NONE of the inhabitants of fresh water 

 are better known to the casual observer 

 and few liave been the subject of more 

 study bj' naturalists and scientists than the cray- 

 fishes. These are popularly known by a variety 

 of names such as crawfish, crawdad, Cray, lob- 

 ster, crab, etc. The origin of the word "cray- 

 fish" is interesting as an illustration of the 

 changes whieli words sometimes undergo during 

 the evolution of languages. Apparently from 

 the Old High German word "Krebis" there have 

 been derived the modern German word "Krebs," 

 the Old French "crevice" from which has come 

 the modern French "ecrevisse," and the Old 

 English "crevis" or "creves," which has been 

 corrupted into "crayfish" and still further into 

 "crawfish." 



Every country lad knows where and how 

 crayfishes may be found, and is quite familiar 

 with their propensity for stealing bait when he 

 is fishing for the far more desirable suckers, 

 catfish and shiners ; and what barefooted urchin 

 in the countrj' does not possess among his treas- 

 ures at least a few crab's-eyes or lucky-stones, 

 as the calcareous concretions formed within the 

 thorax are called? Though harmless enough, 

 they are usually greatly feared by the small 

 boys and girls wlio love to wade barefooted in 

 the shallow streams and ponds. The bass fisher- 

 man fully appreciates the value of the soft- 

 shelled stage as a tempting lure for the wily 

 game. 



Popular writers have, for the most part, over- 

 looked the possibilities of the crayfish and refer- 

 ences to this interesting animal outside of scien- 

 tific literature are rare indeed. James Whitcomb 

 Riley, who has been able to see something of 

 poetic charm in many of the humble creatures 

 of the woods and streams, evidently considers the 

 crayfisli as occupying the lowest limit of exist- 

 ence, for he pictures a treetoad utterly disgusted 

 with the long and continued drought, which 



"Jest backed down in a crawfish hole 

 Weary at hart and sick at sole." 



Alfred Henry Lewis's "Crawfish .lim," though 

 harmless, is not a particularly attractive charac- 

 ter. Even the English language takes a fling 

 at the little crustacean on account of his mode 

 of backing out of difficulties, and "crawfishing" 

 is widely and slightingly applied to this metliod 

 of the human species in escaping from an un- 

 (ileasant situation. 



Various scientific monographs have been writ- 

 ten on the structure, habits, distribution and 

 relationship of the crayfislies, while their use as 

 a laboratory type for the purpose of illustrating 

 the Crustacea has become a matter of course in 

 the colleges and secondary schools of Europe 

 and America. Yet in spite of all that has been 

 written by the scientists, the natural history of 

 the crayfish is but little known to the general 

 reader, and it is commonly regarded as a use- 

 less and uninteresting animal, which may occa- 



