■686 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



found in their droppings. There are many folk-tales current in which 

 the crab figures as the aunt of the jackal. It is said that the jackal 

 has a pecuhar trick of getting the crab out of the hole. The tail is 

 thrust into the hole and when the crab has caught hold of it with the 

 pincers it is pulled out and the crab with it. It is not known how far 

 it is true. But to anglers in ponds in Western Bengal the crab is known 

 to keep its hold on the fishing hue which is being pulled up to the siu-face 

 of the water. It is not known what other enemies prey upon crabs. 



In the WTiter's experience crabs have not been observed to cause 

 damage on any scale although plants have been observed to be cut 

 and the crop thinned in patches. It could not be made out why plants 

 were cut in this manner. They ceistainly did not afford food to the 

 crabs. If the crabs had eaten the plants or had been obliged to cut 

 them in order to get their food, it was clear from the enormously large 

 number present in the Barail fields that severe damage would have 

 resulted and probably rice-growing would have been impossible there. 

 No damage was reported at Barail to be caused to the young crop. 

 According to Mr. T. V. Eamakrishna Ayyar, the soft central pulpy 

 parts of young paddy plants are eaten by the crab, Paratelphusa hydro- 

 ■ dromus, which occurs in Madras. In the grown-up plants observed 

 to be cut at Barail and also in confinement in the Insectary, the part 

 of the plant tackled by the crab was only a hollow tube. In Burma 

 according to Mr. Shroif the principal damage due to crabs is in the 

 form of burrows in the bunds between the fields which allow the water 

 to percolate through. This, as noted above, is experienced probably 

 in all high lands under paddy. In Burma some mischief is also reported 

 to be caused to young plants, especially young transplants, which are 

 said to be pinched off. It seems almost certain that the Barail crabs 

 derive hardly any food from paddy plants. To the writer it seems 

 .that they cut some plants not by choice but owing to an inherent habit 

 • of occasionally pinching with their pincers long and slender substances 

 and probably those which stand vertically. It is a common experience 

 of anglers in ponds of Western Bengal to have their fishing lines cut 

 by crabs a httle above the point of attachment of the hooks which are 

 thus lost. In some places a large number of crabs happen to be present 

 and therefore a large number of plants happen to be cut. This is why 

 damage occurs only in patches here and there and such damage may 

 be severe occasionally. 



From observations so far made the writer comes to the following 

 conclusions : 



1. Crabs occur in all places where water accumulates and stands 

 for long periods. They are therefore likely to and do occur in all 



