If a number of crayfishes, of about the same size, are compared together, it will easily be seen that they fall into two sets; the jointed tail being much broader, especially in the middle, in the one set than in the other (fig. 2). The broad-tailed crayfishes are the {8} females, the others the males. And the latter may be still more easily known by the possession of four curved styles, attached to the under face of the first two rings of the tail, which are turned forwards between the hinder legs, on the under side of the body (fig. 3, A; _15_, _16_). In the female, there are mere soft filaments in the place of the first pair of styles (fig. 3, B; _15_). Crayfishes do not inhabit every British river, and even where they are known to abound, it is not easy to find them at all times of the year. In granite districts and others, in which the soil yields little or no calcareous matter to the waters which flow over it, crayfishes do not occur. They are intolerant of great heat and of much sunshine; they are therefore most active towards the evening, while they shelter themselves under the shade of stones and banks during the day. It has been observed that they frequent those parts of a river which run north and south, less than those which have an easterly and westerly direction, inasmuch as the latter yield more shade from the mid-day sun. During the depth of winter, crayfishes are rarely to be seen about in a stream; but they may be found in abundance in its banks, in natural crevices and in burrows which they dig for themselves. The burrows may be from a few inches to more than a yard deep, and it has been noticed that, if the waters are liable to freeze, the burrows are deeper and further from the surface than otherwise. Where the soil, through {9} which a stream haunted by crayfishes runs, is soft and peaty, the crayfishes work their way into it in all directions, and thousands of them, of all sizes, may be dug out, even at a considerable distance from the banks. It does not appear that crayfishes fall into a state of torpor in the winter, and thus “hybernate” in the strict sense of the word. At any rate, so long as the weather is open, the crayfish lies at the mouth of his burrow, barring the entrance with his great claws, and with protruded feelers keeps careful watch on the passers-by. Larvæ of insects, water-snails, tadpoles, or frogs, which come within reach, are suddenly seized and devoured, and it is averred that the water-rat is liable to the same fate. Passing too near the fatal den, possibly in search of a stray crayfish, whose flavour he highly appreciates, the vole is himself seized and held till he is suffocated, when his captor easily reverses the conditions of the anticipated meal.