The Republican river, in Cheyenne county, wherever I have seen it, is a shallow stream, perhaps 50 to 100 feet wide, with a bed of loose sand. It sometimes, though rarely, goes dry in places so far as the surface is concerned, but it is said that water can always be found by digging a few inches into the sand of the bed.
During the early part of June, 1901, while near Springfield, Greene county, Missouri, I had the opportunity of making a few observations on the habits of _C. neglectus_. In the James river, near Galloway, about eight miles southeast of Springfield, this was the only species observed, although probably not the only one occurring in the river. At this place the James river is a rather swift-flowing stream, with a rocky bed and with rather high wooded hills along the sides. The stream is quite shallow in the swiftly running places. The crayfish were quite abundant, being found under the loose stones and resting in the strands of the rich vegetation, which stood almost horizontal in the swiftly flowing water.
The specimens were very plentiful around Boiling Springs, a place where one of the cold, underground rivulets of the region breaks through the rocks in the bottom of the stream.
In a clear, rocky stream,[B] shallow in most places, flowing between high hills, about four miles northwest of Springfield, crayfish were found in abundance. The smaller and by far the more numerous species was _C. neglectus_. The animals were very active, darting from stone to stone when disturbed, but usually remaining under cover but a short time.
In a stream flowing from Galloway Cave, at Galloway, Greene county, _C. neglectus_ and _C. rusticus_ were taken. At the mouth of the cave, _C. neglectus_ was by far the more abundant, if not the only species, being found in great abundance under loose stones at the very mouth. The water here has practically the same temperature as that on the inside. The temperature on the inside of the cave is said to remain at fifty-seven degrees F. winter and summer. The animals were very inactive, the cold water, apparently, numbing them to such an extent that it was not at all difficult to take them with the hand.[C] A little distance down the stream, where the water was much warmer, the animals were noticed to be as active as ever.