ON CRUSTACEA. 
279 
or granzo of the Italians. It was believed that its ashes were 
useful, from their desiccative qualities, to those who had been 
bitten by a mad dog, either by employing those ashes alone, 
or mixed with incense and gentian. 
According to the report of JElian, the fresh-water crabs 
( Ocypodes? ) as well as the tortoises and crocodiles, foresaw 
the inundation of the Nile, and, about a month previously to 
that event, they resorted to the most elevated situations in the 
neighbourhood. 
The Thelphusa fluviatilis is common in the environs of 
Rome, and remains in the mud, so that to get at it the fisher- 
men are obliged to dig a trench all round. It removes to a 
considerable distance from the water, and can live a week, 
and sometimes even a mouth, out of this element. It even 
appears that crabs can be preserved alive in this manner, by 
keeping them in cellars, or in fresh and somewhat humid 
places. 
In Rome, the thelphusa fluviatilis is eaten on fast days, and 
at all times of the year. These Crustacea, however, are better 
in summer, after their moulting, and more especially while 
they arc undergoing this change. They are then served up 
on the tables of the pope and cardinals. Some persons make 
them die in milk, to sweeten and soften their flesh. They are 
carried to market, attached by a cord, but placed at a certain 
distance from each other, because if they were suffered to 
touch, they would gnaw each other, and lose a portion of their 
limbs. Belon observes that the females are distinguished bv 
their tail, which is broader and more rounded, in the form of 
a shield. This difference, however, here, is not so sensible as 
in most other species of this family. The same naturalist has 
found this decapod in the streams of Mount Athos. The 
Caloyers, or monks of Mount Athos, eat it raw, and maintain 
that it has more flavour in this state than when cooked. 
M. Menard do Groye, correspondent of the Academy of 
