388 CRUSTACEA. 



lough in this County it is now said to be met with. About Kill Lake, 

 Lough Slieehan, cV'c, in the neighbouring County of Cavan it is found.* 

 Dr. Ball states that the cray-fish is taken in the Koyal Canal about twelve 

 miles from Dublin, and in other places in Ivildare. 



Mr. Patrick Doran, a well-known and intelligent collector of objects of 

 natural history, gives me the following account of cray-fish, as observed 

 by him in Killymoon river, near Cookstown, County Tyrone, when the 

 water was very low. They ascend from the deeper to the shallower parts 

 to spawn. It is the office of the males to cater for the young. He has 

 seen them catch minute fish and Gammarl, bring them to the female and 

 young, and break the fish up in pieces for the latter, so as to muddy the 

 water in the process. On being disturbed, both sexes gather the young 

 under their tails " as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings ; " but 

 a singular difference prevails between the sexes with regard to their man- 

 ner of protecting their progeny. The male on being lifted out of the 

 Avater retains the young under his tail ; but the female on being captured, 

 wiser than her lord, slaps them from her into their native element with 

 great force, thus producing an effect M'hich is likened by my informant to 

 " a shower of rain upon the surface." He has repeatedly witnessed this 

 diff*erent procedure of the two sexes. 



Dr. Ball supplies me with the following note : — " Some years ago I 

 kept a cray-fish for a considerable time in a shallow glass-vessel, about 

 twenty inches in diameter, and containing about two inches depth of water. 

 This animal gradually acquired great viciousness, and would eagerly at- 

 tack the fingers of any one who chose to put them within his range, pursu- 

 ing the intruding digits round the boundaries of his demesne. After he had 

 been thus a year in my possession, I was one day surprised to see a second 

 cray-fish in the vessel, but on taking the intruder in my hand (believing 

 it to have been placed in the vessel Ijy a waggish relative) it proved to be 

 the exuvia? of my old friend, so perfect as to present his exact counter- 

 part. Instead of his usual boldness, he now exhibited the most remarkable 

 timidity, which continued for three or four days. He was at first quite 

 soft, and appeared considerably larger than before, but gradually grcAV 

 firmer, and on the fifth day felt to the touch as hard as usual, and ad- 

 vanced with open pincers to the attack of my finger, though evidently 

 not without some little doubtfulness of his powers. Before the end of the 

 week he was himself again, came on more boldly that ever and with 

 greater effect, as his weapons were much sharper. He lived nearly two 

 years with me, and during the whole time received no food excepting a 

 few worms. The water was never changed, but some was occasionally 

 added merely to supply the loss by evaporation. I had found by pre- 

 vious experiments that cray-fish placed in pans with much water died, 



* In Mr. Hyndman's cabinet there is a specimen of a cray-fish considerably 

 smaller and more delicately proportioned than the A. fluviatilis, and apparently 

 a different species. It is believed by him to be Irish, but of this he is not cer- 

 tain. A very intelligent lady who saw the specimens above alluded to from 

 Kildare — and which were the ordinary A. fluviatilis — remarked on their being 

 much larger than those she had been accustomed to see in County Cavan. On 

 Mr. Hyndman's Astacus being shown, it was slated that of the quantities which 

 she had seen served up at table, none were ever larger. They were taken in 

 one of the tributaries to Lough Sheehan, about I| mile above the lake, and 

 eight miles from the town of Cavan. I have as yet been unable to obtain cray- 

 fish from this locality. Silence would perhaps have been more judicious, than 

 the introduction of matter of this kind without any positive evidence. 



