February, 1921.] 



The Canadian Field-Naturalist. 



27 



of the water around freezing-point. The 

 water on testing showed to be slightly sa- 

 line, thougli used for drinkiug-purposes. 



Since my return from the expedition I 

 received from Professor A. Willey, of 

 McGill University, Montreal, P.Q., six adult 

 branchipods (4 females, 2 males) which so 

 far as I can see belong to this species. They 

 were collected in a pond cut off from the 

 river at Point St. Charles, near Montreal 

 in May-June about 20 years ago. Profes- 

 sor Willey informs me that they have not 

 been observed in that locality since. They 

 were about 2 cm. long, and the females had 

 ripe eggs in the brood-pouch. This is cer- 

 tainly a most extraordinary record, and 

 quite at variance with what one should ex- 

 pect to find this circumpolar form at 

 Montreal. The species has been recorded 

 from the Carpathians (De Dees), so it 

 would be far more natural to expect to 

 find it in the Rocky Mountains than in the 

 lowlands of the St. Lawrence River. How- 

 ever, the shape of the male claspers, their 

 rows of spines, the oblong ovisac of the 

 females, etc., Inakes me feel confident the 

 specimens belong to B. paludosa. Tlie 

 eggs were perhaps brought with a ship 

 returning from Labrador or other part of 

 the eastern arctic and then developed wiien 

 the snow melted in the spring. My identi- 

 fication of these specimens from Montreal 

 has been verified by Professor A. S. Pear- 

 se, of Wisconsin University (letter to me 

 of March 29, 1920). 



In Europe this species has been record- 

 ed from high altitudes in the Carpathians, 

 but the above record from Montreal, Que., 

 is the only instance known of its occur- 

 rence on this continent outside the arctic 

 or sub-arctic regions. 



A couple of other Branchinecta species 

 are found in the middle United States, but 

 have so far not been recorded from Can- 

 ada or Alaska, and are not likely to occur 

 here, though one of them {B. coloradensis) 

 is perhaps an arctic relict form, being 

 found only in ponds and pools on the 

 highest mountains (above 10,000 feet) in 

 Colorado. '^ 



Nor has the interesting fairy-shrimp Ar- 

 temia salina (A. fertilis, A. gracilis, A. mo- 

 nica), known from many parts of Europe, 



West Greenland and some of the States, 

 (Connecticut, Utah, California), and iu 

 lower California, been found in Canada so 

 far. ^ Much has been written about this 

 species as to its sudden occurrence iu salt 

 lakes, and in railway tubs filled with brine, 

 where it can withstand more than 270 

 grains of salt per litre, and where its red 

 color increases in intensity with that of 

 the salinity of the water. This is also the 

 species to which the common European 

 iorm. Branchipus stagnalis {B. ferox) trans- 

 formed by degrees when the salinity of the 

 water in which it occurred was increased, 

 as also the reverse occurred when the water 

 was diluted, according to Schmankevitsch 's 

 investigations. On this continent, how- 

 ever, Branchipus stagnalis does not occur 

 (the species mentioned in Ottawa Natura- 

 list, July, 1895, and April, 1896, is almost 

 certainly Euhranchipus gelidus Hay), 

 and so far as I know the experiments re- 

 ferred to above have not been successful 

 over here, though there are apparently no 

 generally accepted characters separating 

 the genus Artemia from that of Branchi- 

 necta or Branchipus. 



Of the genus E uhranchipus half a dozen 

 species are known on this continent, the 

 majority of them only from the United 

 States, though all from the northern and 

 middle States, and none from the west. 

 Only one species {E. gelidus Hay) has so 

 far been found in Canada and Alaska, but 

 at least some of the others may well be 

 found to occur in the Dominion, as they 

 are known from New England to Wiscon- 

 sin south of the boundarj^ line, and one 

 species {E. vernalis Verr.) has a very wide 

 distribution. Perhaps the most widely dis- 

 tributed species is E. gelidus, which has 

 so far been recorded from Massachusetts, 

 New York and Indiana in the States and 

 from Ontario and Yukon Territory in Can- 

 ada ; it also occurs in Alaska. For records 

 in Yukon Territory and Alaska see PeaVse, 

 1913. It is extremely common around Ot- 

 tawa in the spring, and occurs on the Que- 

 bec as well as on the Ontario side of the 

 Ottawa River. There can be little doubt 

 but that this is the species A. Halkett ob- 

 served in 1893 and 1894 at New Edin- 

 burgh, Ontario, {Ottawa Naturalist, July, 



6 The eggs of this species are unusually " It may occur in Southern Ontario or Que- 



large. bee, judging from its presence in Connecticut. 



