gß^ ViNNIE ReAM StOUT, 



Perhaps no other animal of macroscopic size along the temperate 

 and arctic sliores exists in such innumerable multitudes as do these 

 little laterally compressed Amphipoda, or "sand-fleas", as tliey are 

 commonly termed. Some of them are sand dwellers, and these serve 

 as scavengers of the beach, as they eag-erly devour all the decaying 

 animal and vegetable forms that conie their way, while they, in turn^ 

 furnish food for many birds. The sea dwellers, althongh acting as 

 scavengers of the sea, yet serve man best by furnishing food for many 

 fishes. In this relation Prof. Vekrill says: "These small crusta- 

 ceans are of great importance in connection with our fisheries, for 

 we have found that they, together with the shrimps, constitute a 

 very large part of the food of our more edible fishes, both of fresh 

 and Salt waters. The amphipods, though mostly of small size, occur 

 in such immense numbers in their favorite localities that they can 

 always be easily obtained by the fishes that eat them, and no doubt 

 they furnish excellent and nutritious food, for even the smallest of 

 them are by no means overlooked even by large and powerful fishes^ 

 that could easily capture larger game. Even the voracious blue-fish 

 will feed upou these small Crustacea. They are also the favorite food 

 of trout, lake white-fish, shad, flounders, scup," etc. These suggestions 

 give but a hint of the importance of these tiny, multitudinous crea- 

 tures to the scheme of nature, and indirectly to the welfare of man. 



The amphipods are widely scattered over all the waters of the 

 World, less so, perhaps in those of the tropics. In the ocean, they 

 abound more especially in the littoral regions, but they live also 

 in the greater depths. On the continents they live on the sandy 

 shores, in fresh-water lakes, rivers, wells, caves and Underground 

 streams. 



It is surmised that Aeistotle noted the existence of these small 

 crustaceans. Linnaeus knew little of them, as it appears from one 

 of his descriptions that he mistook the head for the tail. Various 

 men described individual species, some with considerable accuracy, 

 but they were not brought together as a group until J. C. Fabricius 

 in 1775 instituted the genus Gammarus. From this time on, a great 

 deal of interest has been evidenced in them. They wäre first estab- 

 lished as an order separate from the Isopoda by Latkeille in 1816. 

 Then there were various classifications for the subdivisions until 

 1852 when Dana subdivided the order into three groiips, Caprellidea,. 

 Gammaridea, and Hyperidea, a Classification still used today. 



