320 THH ZOOLOGIST. 



CRUSTACEA. 



The Resting-place of a Velvet Crab. — On the morning of 

 February 9th a large male Velvet Crab (Portunus puber) was placed 

 in an aquarium. It at once began to explore the tank, and to climb 

 amongst the rocks. Some time before the next morning it had 

 selected a cavity in the base of the rock- work at the back of the 

 aquarium, and henceforth this cavity became its resting-place. The 

 cavity was sufficiently deep to allow the Crab to sit inside, with only 

 the front portion of its body and the great claws projecting. The 

 Crab died on July 3rd. During the whole of the twenty and a half 

 weeks it had lived in the tank it had never voluntarily moved more 

 than four or five inches away from the entrance to the resting-place, 

 and even these short excursions were always on the floor, never on 

 the rocks, and were undertaken only under the stress of hunger. If 

 the Crab was annoyed with the end of a rod, it would strike 

 vigorously with its claws. Even if driven out of its hole it would 

 move only a few inches away and then sit waiting for an opportunity 

 to slip back again. I have several times gone to its tank after 

 nightfall and suddenly turned on the electric light, but I never found 

 it wandering about the aquarium. It would sometimes seize passing 

 Prawns with a very quick and sudden inward movement of its two 

 claws, and eat them whilst sitting at the mouth of its hole. — H. N. 

 Milligan. 



INSECTA. 



Hornets' Nest in the Ground. — Some of the lads in our village 

 school reported the finding of a Hornets' nest in a furze-bush, and, 

 being rather doubtful, I went to look at it. A boy who acted as my 

 guide assured me, " If you poke them up they'll come out./ His 

 remark was quite accurate ; I did poke them up, and they did come 

 out. To destroy the nest I had to find the entrance-hole, which was 

 in the ground under the bush, and one of the Hornets stung me on 

 the right cheek. The effect of the sting was not nearly so severe as 

 I expected. I got home as soon as I could and applied my usual 

 remedy of whisky well rubbed in, with the result that the swelling 

 was very slight, and the pain no more than that of a Wasp-sting, 

 while the after-effect was practically nil. Last year (vide ' Zoologist,' 

 1914, p. 277) a Hornet's nest was begun in one of our bird-boxes, 

 but this was the only nest I have ever seen in the ground. One 

 dose of cyanide fluid made an end of it, and the boys dug out the 

 comb, the queen being produced for my inspection. — Julian G. Tuck 

 (Tostock Eectory, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk). 



