388 
CRUSTACEA. 
lough in this County it is now said to he met with. About Kill Lake, 
Lough Sheehan, &c., in the neighbouring County of Cavan it is found.* 
Dr. Ball states that the cray-fish is taken in the Royal Canal about twelve 
miles from Dublin, and in other places in Kildare. 
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 Gammari, 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 
water 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 which is likened by my informant to 
“ a shower of rain upon the surface.” He has repeatedly witnessed this 
different 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 by a waggish relative) it proved to be 
the exuviae 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 grew 
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 stated that of the quantities which 
she had seen served up at table, none wdre ever larger. They were taken in 
one of the tributaries to Lough Sheehan, about If 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. 
