CRAWFISH, or CRAYFISH (OF. crevice, crevisse, Fr. e'ercrisse, from OHG. chrebiz, Ger. Krebs, crawfish). A fresh-water or terrestrial crustacean (Astacus fluviatilis) nearly allied to the lobster, from which, however, it differs in having the middle plate of the tail-fin trans versely divided by a suture. It inhabits the rivers and streams of many parts of Europe, making burrows in clayey banks. and coming forth at night in search of food, which chiefly of mollusks, small fishes, larwe of aquatic insects, and animal substances of almost' any kind. It is esteemed for the table, and is readily attracted by a bait of decaying flesh or animal garbage inclosed in a net or in a bundle cif twigs, by which many crawfish may lie captured at a time. The use of the name has been ex tended until it is now applied to any of the fresh-water species of the family Astacid:e. In the United States it is universally applied to any one of several species of Cambarus, which agree very closely in structure and habits with the common crawfish of Europe. They are six inches or so in length and of a greenish-hrown color. They frequently In much damage to dikes and levees by opening water passages, as told in Proc. Assoc. Eronom. 1"»tomoloyist for I S95 (U. S. Dept. Agrie., 1891). For general facts. con sult Huxley, The Crayfish: _In Introduction to Zoology (London, 1887) ; "Revision of the Asta eida'," Memoirs J/u.seam Comparatire Zoology, vol. x., No. 4 (Cambridge, Mass., 1885).
CRAWIFORp, FRANCIS MARION (1854—). An American novelkt, chiefly resident in Europe. He was born at Bagni tii Lucca, Italy, a son of the sculptor Thomas Crawford. Of cosmopolitan education in America, England, and Germany, his first literary venture was as editor of the :Ocilla bad Indian Herald (1879-S0). His voluminous fiction was begun by Mr. Isaacs, a story of modern India (1882). The more significant of its frequent successors are Dr. Claudius (1883), A Roman Singer (1884). Zoroaster (1885). A. Tale of a Lonely Parish (1886), Sara cincsea (1587), Paul Patoff (1887), Orcif enslcin (1889), Sant' Dario (1859), A Cigar ette Maker's Romance (1S90), Th• Witch of Prague (1891), Don Orsino (1892), Pietro Ohisleri (1593), The flalstons (1894), Casa Dracrio (1595), Corleonc (1897), l lie Crueis (1899). and In the Palace of the King (1900). Historical and descriptive are Constantinople, a book of travels, Ave Roma Immortalis (1898), and Milers of the South (1900). In 1893 Ile pub lished a slight brochure, entitled The Yorcl: What It Is. The Saracinesca series, the scenes of which are laid in modern Rome, is generally regarded as his most important performance; his strictly American fiction is less popular. Few recent novelists have held their readers more steadily than AIL Crawford, in spite of the great number of his books.