# 



THE 



A Q U A R 1 L M 



}."■) 



rules for the guidance of advertisers. In 

 the first place, we do not send advance 

 proof of advertisements. The sizes of 

 type and kindred matters will be kept 

 just as near to the advertisers' desire as 

 possible, but we must have a little lee- 

 way in view of contingencies. We re- 

 serve the right to blue-pencil advertise- 

 ments which do not conform to our 

 standards, but any such changes will be 

 indicated before publication. We will 

 not accept flamboyant or spectacular 

 advertisements. We also reserve the 

 right of requiring payment in advance 

 if necessary. 



Auction Sale 



The Acjuarium Society of New York 

 wishes to announce that on Thvirsday, 

 Nov. 13th, 1913, they will hold a public 

 auction of various varieties of fish, water 

 plants, and implements pertaining to 

 aquaria. This sale will be held at the 

 German-American School House, Sher- 

 man Ave., Jersey City, N. J., and should 

 be taken advantage of by fanciers as 

 well as by amateurs desirous of adding 

 to their collections. 



Crayfish * 



By MORRIS GIBBS. M. D., Kalamazoo, Mich. 



In wandering about the lowlands, an 

 observant person may often find a num- 

 ber of small mounds, generally near the 

 edges of ditches or streams. These Httle 

 heaps vary from three to six inches in 

 height and are sometimes nearly a foot 

 across, and are made up of small pel- 

 lets of mud and clay. In the centre of 

 each is a hole of an inch or more in di- 

 ameter, which serves as an outlet or in- 

 let for the little architect who inhabits 

 the well. These Httle tunnels or wells 

 are generally supposed by the ignorant 

 and unobservant to be snake holes, and 

 they are avoided by timid children or 

 broken into bv the bolder ones, but to 



the thoughtful observer they are ever 

 as ource of instruction and interest. 



It is very difficult to discover the well 

 digger at work, for these little fellows 

 appear to work chiefiy at night. Still I 

 have twice observed the sly laborers 

 carrying out the soil from their burrows 

 in broad daylight, and the workers may 

 be busy all day long in their under- 

 ground abodes. The makers of these 

 wells are freshwater lobsters or cravfish, 

 often called crabs by the boys. If an 

 observer sits quiet for a time near these 

 heaps, he may see a claw carefully raised 

 out from the hole and then several pairs 

 of legs follow, together with two of bead 

 like eyes. If the inhabitant of the tunnel 

 sees the least suspicious movement, he 

 drops back into the burrow, and only 

 reappears after quite a lapse of time — if 

 at all that day. A new observer is sur- 

 prised to find that the maker of these 

 tunnels is the same creature that he has 

 often seen crawling about on the bot- 

 toms of the streams and ditches; just a 

 smaller relative of the big lobster that 

 we eat. 



It is probable that these wells are be- 

 gun at the top, l)ut I cannot learn that 

 anyone has seen the beginning of a tun- 

 nel. Then, as the well gets deeper, the 

 pellets are brought up and deposited at 

 the sides, and in time these accumula- 

 tions form walls at the sides of the well 

 and take the form of chimnevs. The 

 limey nature of the material found in 

 the deeper soil in the lowlands causes 

 the pellets to stick together in such a 

 manner that the result is t|uite like a 

 mud chimney. 



These Ivmnels always lead to water 

 which is generally found at a depth of 

 two feet or less, but at times the well 

 is all of four feet deep. 



♦Reprinted from Ike Atlantic Coast Natura/ist. 



