I think that after the winter has passed, and while the marsh is still covered with water, impregnation takes place and burrows are immediately begun.  I do not believe that the same burrow is occupied for more than one year, as it would probably fill up during the winter.  At first it burrows diagonally, and as long as the mouth is covered with water is satisfied with this oblique hole.  When the water recedes, leaving the opening uncovered, the burrow must be dug deeper, and the economy of a perpendicular burrow must immediately suggest itself.  From that time the perpendicular direction is preserved with more or less regularity.  Immediately after the perpendicular hole is begun, a shorter opening to the surface is needed for conveying the mud from the nest, and then the perpendicular opening is made.  Mud from this, and also from the first part of the perpendicular burrow, is carried out of the diagonal opening and deposited on the edge.  If a freshet occurs before this rim of mud has had a chance to harden, it is washed away, and no mound is formed over the oblique burrow.

After the vertical opening is made, as the hole is bored deeper, mud is deposited on the edge, and the deeper it is dug the higher the mound.  I do not think that the chimney is a necessary part of the nest, but simply the result of digging.  I carried away several mounds, and in a week revisited the place, and no attempt had been made to replace them; but in one case, where I had in addition partly destroyed the burrow by dropping mud into it, there was a simple half rim of mud around the edge, showing that the crayfish had been at work; and as the mud was dry the clearing must have been done soon after my departure.  That the crayfish retreats as the water in the ground falls lower and lower is proved by the fact that at various intervals there are bottled-shaped cavities marking the end of the burrow at an earlier period.  A few of those mounds farthest from the stream had their mouths closed by a pellet of mud.  It is said that all are closed during the summer months.

How these animals can live for months in the muddy, impure water is to me a puzzle.  They are very sluggish, possessing none of the quick motions of their allied C. bartonii, for when taken out and placed either in water or on the ground, they move very slowly.  The power of throwing off their claws when these are grasped is often exercised.  About the middle of May the eggs hatch, and for a time the young cling to the mother, but I am unable to state how long they remain thus.  After hatching they must grow rapidly, and soon the burrow will be too small for them to live in, and they must migrate.  It would be interesting to know more about the habits of this peculiar species, about which so little has been written.  An interesting point to settle would be how and where it gets its food.  The burrow contains none, either animal or vegetable.  Food must be procured at night, or when the sun is not