690 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.xx. 



United States, and Mr. P. R. Uhler tells me that Cambarus dubius 

 Faxon, has the same habit in western Virginia. 1 Titian R. Peale 

 informed Girard 2 that he had observed mud chimneys, altogether sim- 

 ilar to those of C. diogenes, along the Rio Magdalena in New Grenada, 

 several hundred miles from the seashore. But the builders of these 

 chimneys in New Grenada still remain unknown to science. In this 

 connection it is worthy of note that the earliest mention of adobe 

 towers, erected at the mouth of Crustacean burrows, occurs in Molina's 

 work on the natural history of Chile, 3 page 208: " t gamberi fluviali 

 piti rimarchevoli sono i Muratori, Cancer cwmentarius,* i quali hanno 

 circa otto pollici di lunghezza; il lor colore e bruno rigato di vene di 

 un rosso vivo, e la carne bianca e piii saporosa di quella de' gamberi 

 marini e degli altri fluviali. Questi si trovonoin gran quantita in tutti 

 quei fiumi e rivi, nei margini dei quali essi si fabbricano con dell' ar- 

 gilla un' abituro cilindrico alto un mezzo piede sopra il terreno, ma 

 profondo di maniera che 1' acqua corrente vi passa per mezzo di un 

 canaletto sotterraneo." 5 



Poppig considered the Cancer cwmentarius of Molina to be a common 

 edible prawn of Chile, Palwmon (Bithynis) cwmentarius Poppig. 6 This 

 prawn is said to dig deep holes in the clayey banks of the Chilean rivers 

 near the sea, closing up the mouths of the holes with mud. Molina's 

 description of the mud tenements of Cancer cwmentarius vividly recalls 

 the "chimneys" constructed by fossorial crayfishes. The character 

 u rostro obtuso. 77 moreover, applies better to Parastacus nicoletii or P. 

 hassleri than to Palwmon cwmentarius Poppig, although the rostrum 

 of the latter is obliquely truncated at the tip. On the other hand, 

 the aculeate claws and the length of G. cwmentarius point rather to the 

 Palwmon. 



PARASTACUS AGASSIZII, new species. 

 (Plate LXX, figs. 4, 5.) 



Body robust, subcylindrical, first abdominal somite of normal size. 

 Rostrum long, triangular, slightly surpassing the antennular peduncle, 

 and attaining the distal end of the antennal peduncle ; upper face flat, 



1 Since the above was written, crayfish " chimneys" observed by Mr. W. P. Hay in 

 Indiana and by Doctor R. W. Shufeldt in Montgomery County, Maryland, have 

 been ascribed to Cambarus argillicola and C. bartonii robustus, respectively. 



2 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., VI, p. 90, 1852. 



3 Saggio sulla Storia Naturale del Chili. Del Signor Abate Giovanni Ignazio 

 Molina. Bologna, 1782. 



4 Cancer macrourus, thorace Levi cylindrico, rostro obtuso, chelis aculeatis. 



s Translation: The most remarkable of the river prawns are the "Masons," Cancer 

 cwmentarius. They are about eight inches in length, of a brown color, veined with 

 bright red; the flesh is white and more delicious than that of any other kind of 

 prawn, either fluviatile or marine. They are found in great abundance in all the 

 rivers and brooks, on Avhose banks they build of clay a cylindrical dwelling rising 

 half a foot above the ground, but so deep withal that the current passes into it by 

 means of a small subterranean canal. 



6 Arch. f. Naturgesch., 2ter Jahrg., I, p. 143, 1836. 



