CRAVAT CRAWFISH. 



513 



style of bundling up the neck. They left unconfined 

 that important region of the body, through which so 

 many vessels pass, and in which are situated so 

 many organs, which will endure no constraint with 

 impunity. In some cases, indeed, they defended 

 themselves from the cold by a woollen, cotton, or 

 silk band, called, in Latin, focale, from fauces, 

 throat. But no one could venture to use this con- 

 trivance publicly, unless he was sick; in which case 

 he might cover his head, and the upper part of his 

 shoulders, and even wear breeches without disgrace. 

 " Palliolum, sicutfascias etfocalia" says Quinctilian, 

 sola excusare potest valetudo." It was allowable, in- 

 deed, to cover the neck with the toga in bad wea- 

 ther, or to hold the hand over it, for the preserva- 

 tion or restoration of the natural temperature. The 

 Poles never wear anything round the neck, notwith- 

 standing the severity of their winters. The same 

 custom prevails among the Orientals, by whom a 

 white, round neck is compared to the beauty of an 

 ivory tower; The bare neck gradually became un- 

 fashionable in Europe. It was at first surrounded, 

 but not constrained, by a starched band of fine linen, 

 on the upper edge of the shirt, falling back natural- 

 ly upon the bust, where it was fastened by a small 

 cord. This was the origin of all the different spe- 

 cies of collars since used- the innocent parent of 

 those thick "hot folds, in which the neck was destin- 

 ed to be afterwards muffled. Ruffs, stiffened or 

 plaited, single or in many rows, an inconvenient, 

 indeed, but not a dangerous ornament, had their 

 turn, and lasted as long as short hair was in fashion. 

 They were abandoned, when Louis XIII. allowed 

 his hair to grow : then standing collars, embroidered 

 and pinked, the plaited collarettes, the neck-band, 

 plain or laced and pointed, encompassed the neck 

 chin-deep; and when Louis XIV. adopted those enor- 

 mous periwigs, which hardly left the throat visible, 

 all these splendid envelopes gave way to ribands, tied 

 in brilliant bows. Next came the epoch of the dan- 

 gerous subjection of the neck to constriction and 

 compression, from which it had hitherto been ex- 

 empt. 



In 1660, a foreign regiment arrived in France, 

 composed of Croats, in whose singular costume one 

 thing was generally admired and imitated. It was a 

 bandage about the neck, consisting of common stuff 

 for the soldiers, and of muslin or silk for the officers. 

 The ends were disposed in a bow, or garnished with 

 a tuft or a tassel, and hung not ungracefully over 

 the breast. This new article of dress was at first 

 called a croate, and afterwards, by corruption, a 

 cravat. The military and the rich, at that time, 

 wore very fine cravats, with the border embroidered, 

 or edged with broad lace. Those of the soldiers 

 consisted of a scrap of cloth, of cotton, or, at the 

 best, of black, plaited taffeta, bound round the neck 

 by two small cords. Afterwards, the place of 

 these cords was supplied by clasps or a buckle, and 

 then cravats took the name of stocks. Under Louis 

 XVI., the stocks yielded to the cravats a la c/ian- 

 celiere. The last flourished but for a moment: the 

 revolution came, and with it disappeared cravats and 

 even tight breeches. 



Soon after this epoch (1796), the cravat recovered 

 its popularity, and increased to an incredible degree 

 of extravagance. Some persons enveloped the neck 

 with whole pieces of muslin ; others, with a padded 

 cushion, on which were wrapped numerous folds. In 

 this way, the neck was puffed out so as to be larger 

 than the head, with which it was imperceptibly con- 

 founded. The shirt-collar arose above the ears, and 

 the upper edge of the cravat buried up the chin and 

 the mouth nose-deep ; so that the visage, bristling on 

 either side with a grove of bushy whiskers, and its 



upper regions ensconced to the eyes by the hair flat- 

 tened down over the brows, absolutely showed no- 

 thing except the nose, projecting in all its pleni- 

 tude. The exquisites thus cravatted resembled any- 

 thing rather than men, and afforded excellent sub- 

 jects for caricatures. If they wished to look any 

 way except straight forward, they were obliged to 

 turn the whole trunk, with which the neck and head 

 formed but one piece. It was impossible to incline 

 the head in any direction. 



Most fashions have been invented to hide an in- 

 firmity or a deformity : large cravats were probably 

 first used to conceal some disagreeable scars, or some 

 unlucky malformation. A singer or a public speaker 

 cannot use his voice to advantage during the time 

 when his cravat is tied too tight. The habit of 

 wearing large cravats renders the neck very liable 

 to be affected by exposure. By uncovering the 

 neck imprudently when heated, severe and danger- 

 ous diseases have often been contracted. A young 

 man or young lady, on leaving a party in a warm 

 apartment, should be careful to protect the neck 

 and breast from cold. 



CRAWFISH (astacus, Fab.) ; a crustaceous genus, 

 belonging to the family decapoda macroura (ten leg- 

 ged, long tailed), characterized by having the anteri- 

 or part of the elongated semi-cylindric superior shell 

 produced to form a rostrum or beak ; the abdomen 

 large, slightly attenuated posteriorly, composed of six 

 joints, forming a tail quite as long, when extended, 

 as the body, and terminating in five broad-fringed, 

 swimming appendages, which fold laterally upon 

 each other. In both sexes, the under part of the ab- 

 domen is generally provided with five pairs of false 

 claws, each terminated by two plates or plaments. 

 The exterior jaw-feet are mostly narrow, elongated, 

 and do not entirely cover the other parts of the 

 mouth. The gills are pyramidal, brush-shaped, or 

 plume-like, separated from each other by tendinous 

 slips, and situated beneath the sides of the great 

 superior shell, over the external base of the feet. Of 

 the latter, the second and third pairs are elongated, 

 slender, and furnished at the last joint, which is mov- 

 able, with small pincers ; the fourth and fifth pairs 

 have the last joints simply pointed or hooked. The 

 sexual organs are placed, in both sexes, in the basal 

 joint of the last pair of feet. The species belonging 

 to this genus, as at present restricted, do not exceed 

 six. Some of these kinds are peculiar to salt and 

 others to fresh water. Of the former, the most cele- 

 brated is the lobster (astacus gammarus). In their 

 modes of living, the crawfish generally resemble the 

 aquatic crabs (see Crab), feeding on putrefying ani- 

 mal matter, spending their time on the sandy or 

 rocky bottom of deep waters, and only approaching 

 the shallows when impelled by the necessity of under- 

 going their change of shell, or when under the sex- 

 ual influence. The common lobster is the largest 

 species, and grows to a size which may well appear 

 wonderful to persons accustomed to see none but 

 small ones. They are brought to the New York 

 market more than two feet in length, and weighing 

 20 pounds and upwards. Such individuals, however, 

 are not preferred for the table, as their size is a good 

 indication to their age, and their period of life is stated 

 to extend to 20 years and more. The smaller, or 

 half-sized lobsters, are considered the best. 



The fresh-water crawfish, of which one species 

 (astacus bartnoii) is very common in most of the fresh- 

 water streams and brooks from Pennsylvania south- 

 ward, afford us the best opportunity for observing 

 their habits. We find them inhabiting excavations 

 of considerable depth along the borders, or a short 

 distance within the current of the stream, at the bot- 

 tom of which they lie hid. In the spring of the year, 



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