DECAPODA. 387 



Genus Calocaris. 

 C. MacandrecE, Bell. 

 Anterior hands found in stomach of a flat-fish. 



Genus Astacus. 

 A. Jluviatilis, Edw., 



Inhabits the rivers in many parts of Ireland, but is generally stated to 

 have been introduced to its recorded haunts from other quarters. Thus, 

 Rutty in his Natural History of Dublin remarks, " It has been sometimes 

 found in this country, chiefly in gentlemen's ponds, and lately in the river 

 near Finglass ; but said to have been brought thither from Munster." In 

 an essay on the parish of Templepatrick, written in 1824, it was stated, 

 that " the lady of the late Arthur Upton introduced a stranger into our 

 river called craw-fish. It was put into the brook at Templepatrick ; it 

 descended the Six-mile Water, where it found a situation perfectly suited 

 to its nature, deep water and banks of loam, which they excavate as 

 lodgings for themselves and their young ; they have increased to a verj' 

 great multitude." This locality is about ten miles distant from Belfast. 

 The date of the introduction of the cray-fish vmfortunately is not given, 

 nor are we informed whence they were brought. About thirty years be- 

 fore the essay was Avritten, as I am informed by a venerable friend, cray- 

 fish were plentiful some miles farther up the river than where they are 

 said to have been introduced. They were obtained in drains connected 

 with the river near Doagh, and were not sought for as a marketable com- 

 modity, but served up at the table of the Antrim Hunt, to gratify the 

 special palate of one of the knightly members of that body. 



About Florence Court, County Fermanagh, the cray-fish is abundant, 

 but to this locality also. Lord Enniskillen tells me, that the species is said 

 to have been introduced many years ago from Queen's County : — of the 

 correctness of this, as in former cases, there is no proof. About two years 

 ago, however, I had " ocular demonstration " of the introduction of the 

 cray-fish into a pond at Lismoyne, the seat of a relative near Belfast. 

 Early in September, 1840, supplies taken in a small river in the County of 

 Kildare were from time to time forwarded by the coach from Dublin to 

 Belfast, and arrived in tolerable condition on the second day after cap- 

 ture ; sometimes all were alive and apparently in good health ; at others, 

 perhaps one-fourth would be sickly or dead. At this period none con- 

 tained ova, but a supply sent forward in the middle of November had 

 them well developed. It may be worth mentioning that these cray-fish 

 were captured by a man wading up to his middle in the river, and thrust- 

 ing his hands into their burrows in the banks — the water must be low at 

 the time to render the holes visible. When caught they are generally 

 put in a bag containing a little hay, and by being ke])t cool Avill live a 

 few days out of the water. They are likewise taken in numbers by bait- 

 ing with chickens' entrails a common creel or basket, which is let down 

 by a rope to the bottom of the river in the evening, and next morning is ' 

 pulled up so quickly, that the contained cray-fish, having no time for 

 escape, are all captured. 



River Erne, near Belturbet, Mr. Getty. 



Templeton says of the Ast. Jlnviatilis that it " inhabits several of our 

 lakes and rivers ; near Antrim, in the Six-mile Water ; in great abundance 

 in a lake near Tullahan, County Monaghan." About Ballibay and Glas- 



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