PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 681 



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are also found to live at the bottom of the ponds where they go apparently 

 in search of food and are frequently brought up in the fishermen's nets 

 and sometimes cut the angler's fishing line. Other reservoirs of water 

 such as ditches and burrow-pits dug on either side of high roads also 

 harbour crabs. These crabs are dark brown in colour and are edible, 



A yellow-brown crab is very common in rice-fields in the Bankura 

 district in the rainy season. Breeding takes place about July-August 

 when young crabs are extremely common in the shallow water standing 

 in the fields and the larger ones are found to carry the brood in the 

 brood-pouch under the abdominal fold. At the close of the rainy season 

 Avhen the water dries up from the fields, the crabs burrow underground 

 and hibernate and eestivate there, coming up and resuming activity 

 in the next rainy season. The writer remembers to have seen many 

 years ago in his native village in this district, a crab resting in a small 

 chamber just big enough for itself at a depth of about 5 or 6 feet in a 

 field where a well was being dug in the hot weather about April-May. 

 The chamber was moist or rather slightly muddy. The crab was resting 

 and would have come out in the rains. A crab collected from these 

 fields in July 1917 has been identified at the Indian Museum as Paratel- 

 phusa {Barytelphusa) sp. nov ? allied to P. {B.) napea, Alcock. But it 

 is not known how many species actually occur there. Although crabs 

 are so common in these fields no damage is ever reported to be caused 

 by them to the rice crop. It may be noted that these rice-fields, like 

 most of the rice-growing lands in West Bengal, are situated on hiorh 

 land. They are not marshy and do not afford any opportunity to the 

 rainwater to collect in deep pools. In the rainy season water has to be 

 collected in them by means of bunds or banks around them. The only 

 trouble from crabs is that they make holes in these bunds and allow 

 the water to escape. This is probably the experience of all paddy- 

 growers in high lands. Therefore it is a routine with the cultivators 

 to visit their fields every day during the whole period when the presence 

 of water is essentially necessary for the crop. 



In order to be able to see crabs at a place where damage is reported 

 to be caused by them to rice plants, a visit was paid to Barail in Muza- 

 ffarpur District on the 25th October 1917. Here there were thousands 

 of acres under rice and the entire area was still under water, at some 

 places several feet deep. Only small portions here and there, situated 

 on higher levels, were free from water. The place is a low land and 

 remains under water from about June to November every year. On 

 the way to Munni, a village situated somewhere about the middle of 

 this tract, numerous crab-holes could be observed near the edges of 

 the water on both sides of the road which was of the form of a high 



