Crab Ravages in China

Abstract

IN the “Kwoh-Wu,” or “Good Words from the States,” attributed to Tso Kiu-Ming (6th century B.C.), a king of Yueh (now the province of Cheh-Kiang) is said to have been advised by his counsellor to postpone his warlike preparation with “good words,” in which the officer adverts to the “Rice-Crab (Tau-Hiai) that spared for man not a seed [of rice] in late years.” A Japanese naturalist, Aoki Kon-yō, quoting a Chinese work, “Ping-Kiang Ki-Sze,” speaks of a crab-devastation which took place in the Wu District (now Kiang-Su) in 1297 A.D., “when all plains were full of crabs, wasting all crops of rice.” (“Kon-yō Manro Ku,” written 1763, ed. 1891, p. 164.)