A NATURAL 1ST. 43 



thoughtless movements. He had thrust his broad 

 lobster-like claws under the stone, and then drawn 

 them near to his mouth, thus making a kind of 

 shelf; and, as he reached the edge of the hole, he 

 suddenly extended his claws, and rejected the in- 

 cumbrance from the lower side, or down stream. 

 Delighted to have found a living object with whose 

 habits I was unacquainted, I should have repeated 

 my experiment, but the crayfish presently returned 

 with what might be called an armful of rubbish, and 

 threw it over the side of his cell, and down the 

 stream, as before. Having watched him for some 

 time while thus engaged, my attention was caught 

 by the considerable number of similar holes along 

 the margin and in the bed of the stream. One of 

 these I explored with a small rod, and found it to 

 be eight or ten inches deep, and widened below into 

 a considerable chamber, in which the little lobster 

 found a comfortable abode. Like all of his tribe, 

 the crayfish makes considerable opposition to being 

 removed from his dwelling, and bit smartly at the 

 stick with his claws : as my present object was only 

 to gain acquaintance with his dwelling, he was 

 speedily permitted to return to it in peace. Under 

 the end of a stone lying in the bed of the stream, 

 something was floating in the pure current, which 

 at first seemed like the tail of a fish; and being 

 desirous to obtain a better view, I gently raised the 

 stone on its edge, and was rewarded by a very beau- 

 tiful sight. The object first observed was the tail 

 of a beautiful salamander, whose sides were of a 



