St. Landry democrat., 1888-07-14

If these cannibal mothers eat the very
ones that they so carefully protected,
or if by some instinct they can tell
their own offspring. The lower ami
mails have strange instincts and pow
ers that we can not understand; and it
would be no stranger than many other
animal habits if these creatures went
by families and kins, in which the
children and grandchildren, nephews
and nieces were exempt from their
larger and more powerful cannibal
relatives.
One day while crossing meadow
near Washington my attention was at
tracted by numerous mounds or Chin
neys which covered holes in the
ground. Upon exploring these bur
rows | found them inhabited by q
species of crawfish which naturalists
call Cambarus diogenes. These in
teresting crustaceans live at the bottom
of bottle-shaped cavity all the way
from foot to two or three feet in
depth. As the summer drouths come
on they dig deeper and deeper, always
keeping about a pint OF water in the
burrow. AS they burrow they carry
the pellets Of mud up the steep,
smooth sides and form a sort OF chin
ney over the mouth.
Twas very curious to know what the
creature could live upon in the bottom
OF the burrow, and how it could find
enough oxygen to support life in pint
of muddy water two feet in the earth.
| asked the planter who owned the
marsh what the animal ate, and he said
it lived on mud. He had never seen
it out of the burrow, and was certain
that it did not eat the grass. In order
to find out more definitely l took one
from it's burrow last November, and at
the time of writing have it in my room
in tub of mud with little water.
For nearly three months it has not
eaten a single thing to my knowledge,
and is to-day as lively az when l first
got it. believe it eats the mud just as
earth-worms do, and digests the little
animalcules. Often the water has
nearly evaporated, yet the creature
long as the gills were under the water.
have been very much amused in
watching it dig in the mud. 1t thrusts
the two great claws into the soft clay
then, upon withdrawing them, brings
out load of mud. He backs out of the
burrow, turns around, and drops the
burden, and the pellet of mud is car
ried, so to speak, between the arms
and the breast.
The crawish often left the water and
came out for a promenade upon the
mud. and one night placed boards SC
that it could leave the tub, and in the
morning found tracks of mud on the
boards and on the floor; but when
looked, the wanderer was nestled un-
concernedly at the bottom of the bur.
row. This was repeated every night
but the little fellow never left the tub
in the daytime. The very next morn.
ing after I took the boards away went
to the crawtish's home and found him
out. He had built mound of mud
where the board had been, and, crawl
ing over the side, had not been able tG
return. Aftera diligent search found
him in a dark corner of the room
nearly dead. It taught him lesson
and he never repeated it.
The fact of his being able to return
to his home seemed rather remarkable
but it is shared by many animals. The
bee can return to its hive after miles o.
wandering; the seal, after going on 8
fishing trip for miles, returns always te
her own hole in the ice, although the
ice may have drifted miles, and picks
out her baby seal from thousands o
other white-coats; and even this craw
fish, guided by what We call instinct
could leave his adopted home and re-
turn to it whenever he chose to do SO
How they can do this we do not know;
we simply know the fact that they dc
so, and apparently without trouble
Instinct is convenient way OF ex
planning it; but the unanswered ques
ton arises: What is instinct?-Ralpt
s. Tdrr. in National Tribune.