THE DRAWING OF THE SEINE. 167 



lield as scarcely worth recording. Crayfish are not easily 

 studied. You may watch them for hours, and the fact 

 that a crayfish has been before you may be the only one 

 that you will have to carry away with you. They enjoy 

 a game of stare, and will ontgaze you, in every contest. 



Twelve years ago, 1 felt justified in remarking that 

 " on carefully approaching clear, running streams, Bland- 

 ing's crayfish is to be seen resting on the plants, always 

 with the head directed down stream. If disturbed, they 

 would dart backwards down to the roots, apparently, of 

 the plant upon which they were resting. After a lapse 

 of about ten minutes they would return to their former 

 resting-place, creeping up the plant down which they 

 liad so suddenly darted tail foremost." Here let me 

 add, that if you approach streams that are neither very 

 clear nor swift, you will probably see Blanding's crayfish 

 that are less methodical in their movements ; that head 

 up stream or down, as they see fit, and if you draw a 

 scoop-net through the weeds, these same crayfish will 

 be quite as apt to dart into the mud as to dodge behind 

 a lily stem. To suppose that they were confined to such 

 beautiful streams as the head-waters of Poaetquissings 

 was a grievous error. 



Twelve years ago, too, I said the slender, broad- 

 snouted crayfish was only found in the Delaware River, 

 " usually frequenting the rocky bed, but also, in fewer 

 numbers, on the mud-bottomed portions of the river." 

 Here I was " at sea." Those in the river, " usually rest- 

 ing under fiat stones," are Barton's crayfish ; while the 

 slender species is as common in the ditches as any spe- 

 cies of true fish. Oh ! a little learning, what a nuisance 



