ARGULUS. 243 



well as size, he concludes that they were distinct species. 

 The one he calls the " Louse of the Carp," the other, the 

 "Louse of the Banstickle or Prickleback." Long previous 

 to this, however, Leonard Baldner, an intelligent fisher- 

 man belonging to Strasbourg, had noticed a species of 

 Argulus infesting the fishes in the neighbourhood of that 

 town. 



In a manuscript, which bears the date of 1666, entitled 

 " a description of the birds, fishes, and insects, found in 

 the neighbourhood of Strasbourg," written in German, a 

 copy of which is now in the Library of the University 

 there, he speaks of this little creature under the name of 

 " Pou de poissons." Hermann informs us that his father 

 had consulted the original manuscript written by Baldner 

 himself ; and which appears, from the account given of it 

 by Herissant, in the ' Bibliotheque physique de la France,' 

 No. 1180, to have been presented to M. Spielmann, Pro- 

 fessor of Medicine in Strasbourg, by the relatives of Baldner, 

 citizens of that town. It was very difficult to be read, 

 but it contained many excellent observations. Several 

 copies, written by different and more legible hands, seem 

 to have existed, for Mr. Willughby must have had one, 

 as he quotes from it repeatedly in his works on Birds and 

 Fishes ; and another copy exists at Mayence. M. Her- 

 mann thought so highly of it, that it was at one time his 

 intention to have published it, but his death prevented 

 this design being carried into execution. Frisch, in his 

 'Insecten in Deutschland,' torn, vi, published in 1740, 

 gives a very imperfect figure of an Argulus, and describes 

 it shortly under the name of " Fisch-laus." Loefling, in 

 the 'Act. Soc. reg. Scient. Upsal,' 1751, describes the 

 same animal at greater length, under the name of " Mo- 

 noculus cauda foliacea plana;" but though he has entered 

 more minutely into the details of its organization than his 

 predecessors, his accompanying figures are very indif- 

 ferent. "It is found," he says, "upon the Pike and 

 Perch, and is called by the natives of Sweden, where his 

 specimens were taken, the Abbor-lus and Gadd-lus." 



