60 BRITISH ENTOMOSTRACA. 



and pressed upon by the stiff hairs which form the 

 branchiae, then by the papillae, lastly by the jaws, they 

 arrive at the mandibles, reduced nearly to pulp, and they 

 are swallowed as any other substance would be." Their 

 enemies, in such a fluid as the Artemia inhabits, are not 

 numerous ; but their chief foe is a small beetle, allied to 

 the Dytiscus, which M. Joly observed at Montpellier, and 

 proposes to name Hydroporus salinus. When it meets 

 an Artemia, it darts at it and bites it ; it then retires for 

 a short time, but returns to the attack again and again, 

 till it succeeds, by numerous bites, in killing the poor 

 creature, and devouring it with astonishing avidity. 



The act of copulation does not appear to have been seen 

 by any observer except Schlosser, who says the males 

 seemed to be very eager to leap upon the backs of the 

 females, and kept tight hold of them by their prehensile 

 antennae. " United thus, they remain some time to- 

 gether, and scarce are they separated when others take their 

 place." The females appear to take the males even when 

 they have already eggs in their external ovary, as Schlosser 

 says he has observed the male embrace the female, in the 

 part where the ovary is situate, so tight as to press out 

 several ova; which causes him to remark : " Je n'ose de- 

 cider si cette action est une veritable accouplement, et si 

 mes insectes a bras sont les males ou les accoucheurs de 

 femelles, n'ayant pas, par un tres bon microscope, vu 

 aucnn autre chose quc ce que je viens de vous dire." It 

 appears, however, from M. Joly, who has isolated the 

 females, that one fecundation must, as in most other En- 

 tomostraca, suffice for more than one generation. 



The same author also asserts, that the Artemiae are both 

 oviparous and ovoviviparous, according to the season of 

 the year. Before July and after September they only lay 

 eggs ; while during summer they generally bring forth 

 young. In about twenty-four hours after the young are 

 born or the eggs expelled, the mother changes her skin. 

 To effect this she rubs herself either against the sides of 

 I IK- vessel or against any foreign bodies she mav meet with 



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