288 Transactions. 



the softer insect larvae and even tadpoles. Many Cladocera may be seen 

 to sink to the bottom of the aquarium with the ventral surface downwards 

 and to collect mud, or even to devour the dead bodies of their fellows." 

 Bernard, in his work on the Apodidae (1892), endeavours to trace the origin 

 of the Crustacea through the Apodidae from a carnivorous annelid ; conse- 

 quently it is evidently taken as. a fact that the Apodidae are carnivorous, 

 but so far no record has been given of their food other than in general terms 

 as given in the quotation above. 



The animal when feeding usually lies on its back, with its food above 

 it. All the limbs are kept moving. Whether the posterior ones just serve 

 to keep the animal in its inverted position by their paddling movements, 

 and only those near the mouth are used for preparing the food, cannot 

 quite be ascertained, but this is probably the case. In seeking for smaller 

 pieces of food the animal burrows into the mud with its shovel-shaped 

 carapace, and the mud is passed along the central groove underneath the 

 body. This groove is formed between the closely ranked legs of either side, 

 and closed above by the segmented body. When the animal is on its back 

 the movement of the legs is seen to begin from the posterior limbs and 

 pass on in regular waves to the anterior. Any particles of food would be 

 passed on in this way to the mouth. 



The water in the bowls in which the animals were kept was about 1 in. 

 deep. They seemed to prefer to move about ventral surface down, though 

 occasionally they would swim about on their back or on the side. When 

 placed in a bowl of fresh water they would often hang to the surface almost 

 suspended on one side, part of the carapace being out of the water. At other 

 times they moved along at the bottom of the bowl, head down and body 

 inclined at an angle as though standing on the front flattened portion of the 

 head. When they were very active they were most interesting to watch : 

 their movements were very quick ; they darted about guiding themselves by 

 the caudal segments, which twisted and turned in every direction as the 

 animal pleased. On one occasion one was seen to turn a complete somer- 

 sault several times. They did not appear to interfere with each other, 

 except that one would sometimes seem to be nibbling at the caudal setae 

 of another and would be quickly shaken off, the victim swimming away. 

 Still, the gradual and unequal shortening of these tail setae, which was 

 noticed even among the first specimens, before it was discovered that the 

 animals did actually eat the dead bodies of their fellows, must have been 

 due to their attempts to appease their hunger. The length of the caudal 

 setae, therefore, can hardly be considered as a good distinguishing specific 

 character, since accidental shortening may easily take place. 



Colour. 



The colours varied considerably amongst individuals brought from the 

 same pool. Those brought from Lin wood were perhaps the most uniform 

 in their green colour. Among them, however, were three or four which 

 showed some variation in the way of mottled markings of the carapace, 

 and these proved to be the longest lived. Still more variety was shown 

 amongst the individuals from Springston. These were dark green, lighter 

 green, mottled green, and several small ones were of a uniform pale colour, 

 perhaps the horny colour of L. angasii (Baird, 1866, p. 122). As in the 

 previous case, the mottled individuals were the last to die. Specimens 

 from Melbourne in spirit in the Biological Laboratory show a uniform pale 

 colour. The New Zealand specimens remain green. 



