PROC. BIOL. SOC. WASH. 92(2), 1979, pp. 225-252 THE CRAYFISHES OF NEW ENGLAND Denton W. Crocker Abstract. — Ten crayfish species have been collected in New England. On the basis of the known Hmits of their geographic distribution elsewhere, 3 species, Procambarus {Scapulicambarus) clarkii (Girard), Orconectes rus-ticus (Girard), and O. obscurus (Hagen) have been introduced into the area by man. The time, place, and persons involved in the introductions are unknown. For 3 other species, O. limosus (Rafinesque), O. immunis (Ha-gen) and O. virilis (Hagen), though a natural entry into New England can be postulated (with greatest confidence for O. limosus), there probably has been considerable transfer inter-and intraregionally by man. Four species have distributions in New England which largely have been attained natu-rally: Cambarus (Cambarus) bartonii (Fabricius), C (Puncticambarus) ro-bustus Girard, O. propinquus (Girard), and Procambarus (Ortmannicus) acutus acutus (Girard). Life history information is tabulated. A systematic list, figures, and distribution maps for each species are provided. The presence of crayfishes in New England, with species unidentified, has been recorded by historians and essayists (WiUiamson, 1832:165; Tho-reau, 1864:237). Information on the distributions of particular species began to accumulate with the recording of Astacus bartonii (now Cambarus bar-tonii) in Massachusetts by Gould (1841:330) and in Vermont by Thompson (1842:170). Hagen's monograph of 1870 adds to the distributional picture of C. bartonii in New England by including the Lake Champlain drainages in Vermont. He lists Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island as being without crayfishes. Walter Faxon's several major crayfish studies and Hsts, while taxonomically important, add relatively little to the distri-butional picture in New England. He confirms the earlier records of C. bartonii in Massachusetts and Vermont, and adds Maine (1885a: 143; 1885b: 158-159). In his last work on crayfishes (1914) he adds Cambarus affinis (now Orconectes limosus) to the crayfish fauna of Massachusetts (Essex and Berkshire counties, pp. 372-373) and Cambarus immunis (now Orconectes immunis) to Massachusetts and New Hampshire (p. 378). He is puzzled by the records of O. limosus in Massachusetts but gives anecdotal evidence for its introduction by man into Berkshire Co. After several pages of discussion, he concludes that the presence of O. immunis in Berkshire Co., Massachusetts, is natural, but that the New Hampshire and other Mas-sachusetts records represent introductions by man.
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