THE CRUSTACEANS 87 
Alpheus minus lives under dead shells, and is found on the 
North Carolina coast. It is about one inch long, and is quite trans- 
lucent and uniformly dull green with dots of brown pigment. 
Alpheus heterochelis ranges from the West Indies to North 
Carolina. Inthe north it is translucent green with the tail flappers 
tipped with blue and orange, while the upper surface of the great 
claw is very dark brownish-olive and blue. In the Bahamas, how- 
ever, it is more transparent, and dotted with brown pigment. On 
the Carolina coast it lives in the beds of oyster shells, while in the 
Bahamas it is found under loose stones. 
CRAYFISHES 
The Crayfishes, or Crawfishes, resemble small lobsters, to which 
they are closely related, but they have never more than eighteen 
pairs of gills, while the lobsters have twenty. 
Our crayfishes are abundant in fresh-water streams, ponds and 
rivers; none, however, are found in the eastern parts of New 
England. 
The crayfishes east of the Rocky mountains have seventeen 
pairs of gills and belong to the genus Cambarus, while those of the 
Pacific slope, west of the Sierra Nevadas, have eighteen pairs of 
gills and are members of the genus Astacus. Curiously enough 
the European crayfishes also belong to the genus Astacus. 
In Europe crayfishes are highly esteemed as food and are care- 
fully cultivated, but in our country they are rarely eaten excepting 
in New York and New Orleans . In view of the increasing rarity 
and high price of the lobster, it might now be found profitable to 
cultivate our crayfishes for the market. Their habits are closely simi- 
lar to those of the lobsters. Some species live under stones, others 
prefer weedy streams while others burrow fully two feet into the 
mud, and will even live in swampy soil where the water is only to 
be found beneath the surface. Some of the mud-burrowing species 
construct chimney-like tubes above the entrance to the burrow, 
while at the bottom of the burrow there is a flask-shaped cavity 
filled with water. In common with the great majority of crusta- 
ceans, crayfishes are natural scavengers, and will eat almost any 
dead animal. They also capture living creatures, and will feed 
sparingly upon water plants. It is probable that under proper 
