13(3 



Notice of an Attempt to Naturalize the Craw-Fish (Astacus 

 fluviatilis) in the South of Scotland. Communicated by 

 Dr Fleming. 



The following curious entry occupies a place in a volume 

 of Adversaria (for 1770, p. 4), formed by Dr "Walker, Pro- 

 fessor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, 

 the immediate predecessor of the present occupant of the 

 chair.* 



" Cancer Astacus, Lin. (The Cray-Fish). 



" They abound in the rocky rivulets about Penrith, in 

 Westmoreland, which run upon limestone. 



" They spawn in the months of June and July. They were 

 brought from Penrith seven years ago, and planted in the 

 rivulet which runs past the house of New Posso, where they 

 still live. 



"Graham, who brought them, informs me that the best time 

 for transporting them is about the 1st of May. He carries 

 them in a close basket among wet grass, which he deposits 

 in water at night. Three days and three nights is the longest 

 time that they can be so carried with safety. He can carry 

 on horseback about 1000. He took them to Kailzie in Tweed- 

 dale for 13s. 6d. per hundred, but most of them died. He 

 offered to bring them to Moffat for 8s. 6d. per hundred if 1000 

 were taken. He feeds them sometimes with beels. 



" To Robert Graham at Penrith, to the care of Mrs Buchan- 

 n an, at the Crown in Penrith. 



" The way to catch them or to know if they are in a rivulet, 

 is to put in a lump of flesh or any carrion into it over night; 

 they will be found preying upon it in the morning." 



It appears from the preceding statement that this crus- 

 tacean, even in those days of difficult transport, was success- 

 fully conveyed from Cumberland to the parish of Manor in 

 — 



* 8even volumes of these Adversaria which came into my possession, con- 

 taining many important notices of interesting subjects in Natural History, have 

 been deposited in the Library of the University. 



