ON CRUSTACEA. 
303 
The fishing for the river astaci is carried on in various ways. 
The most common consists in merely taking them by day 
with the hand, in the holes, and under the stones, where they 
conceal themselves; or during the night with flambeaux, 
when they are seeking their food. The most agreeable 
method, and that by which the finest are procured, is the one 
in which baits are employed. For this purpose a net is at- 
tached to an iron circle, or any other heavy matter, and in the 
middle of this net a piece of meat is fixed ; the circle is 
attached to a long stick by means of three pack-threads ; it is 
put into the water at dusk, the time in which the astaci quit 
their holes ; it is not long before they are seen running at the 
odour, or the sight of the meat, on which they fling themselves 
with the greatest avidity. Then the stick is raised, the net 
withdrawn, and the largest are selected. This fishing often 
produces very abundant results. Sometimes this plan is 
modified by placing the meat at the centre of a faggot of 
thorns ; the astaci, desirous of attacking it, get entangled in 
the branches, and when the faggot is raised, there are some- 
times several dozens inside. It is principally in summer that 
this manner of fishing is advantageous. 
The astaci may be preserved many days, when the 
weather is not too hot, in baskets, in which fresh plants are 
placed, or in a bucket, or trough, in which there is water to 
some depth ; if only sufficient should be left to cover them, they 
w ould perish in a few moments, because the great consump- 
tion of air which they make, would not permit them to live 
in w r ater which was not in considerable mass, or continually 
removed. 
The sea astaci are seldom eaten, but when boiled in sea 
water, and then seasoned with oil, vinegar, and pepper. But 
those of the fresh water are transformed, on the tables of the 
rich, into a great number of viands. 
In cooking them, we are told, they are obliged to be put 
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