crayfish, as scarlet as coral, was not unfrequently seen at a College
luncheon. Possibly the recovery from the epidemic may be rapid, and the
small boys of Medley and Mill Street may earn their sixpence a dozen as
delightfully as they used to. Young crayfish, when hatched from the egg,
are almost exactly like their parents. The female nurses and protects
them, carrying them attached to its underside in clinging crowds. They
grow very fast, and this makes it necessary for the youthful crayfish to
"moult" or shed their shells eight times in their first twelvemonth of
life, as the shell is rigid and does not grow with the body. The constant
secretion of the lime necessary to make these shells is so exhausting to
the youthful crayfish that only a small number ever grow up. In America,
where a large freshwater crayfish nearly a foot long is found, its
burrowing habits are a serious nuisance, especially in the dykes of the
Mississippi. In those streams from which these interesting little
creatures have entirely disappeared it might be worth while to introduce
the large Continental crayfish. As it is bred artificially, there would be
no difficulty in obtaining a supply, and it would be a useful substitute
for the small native kind.

Sea crayfish, which grow to a very large size, are not much esteemed in
this country. They are not so well flavoured as their cousin the lobster.
But as river crayfish of a superior kind can be cultivated, and are reared
for the table abroad, it might be worth while to pay some attention to
what has been done in the United States to replenish by artificial
breeding the stock of lobsters now somewhat depleted by the great
"canning" industry. The method of obtaining the young lobsters is
different from that employed to rear trout from ova. The female lobsters
carry all their eggs fastened to hair-fringed fans or "swimmerets" under
their tails, the eggs being glued to these hairs by a kind of gum which
instantly hardens when it touches the water. For some ten months the