GAMMARITS LOCUSTA. 381 



The plan I have adopted to watch this curious habit of 

 maternal protection has been to place a single individual 

 in a bottle of sea water. After a time, and that soon, 

 the little crustacean seems at ease and swims slowly 

 about, when the young fry leave her and swarm around 

 her in a perfect cloud ; they never leave her for more 

 than half or three-quarters of an inch, and as she 

 slowly moves about they accompany her. If now 

 one taps the side of the bottle with one's finger nail, 

 the swarm of larvae rush under their parent, and in a 

 second are out of sight. The parent now becomes 

 excited and swims about quickly as if trying to escape ; 

 but by letting the bottle containing her rest quite still 

 on a table she soon gets composed, when out come the 

 young larvas again and swim about as before. This may 

 be repeated as often as the observer wishes, and always 

 with the same result. I have only seen this in one 

 species, but it is quite a common species in Poole 

 Harbour, and I have watched the interesting habit many 

 times." 



Our vignette represents this instance of parental 

 instinct ; but our correspondent has informed us that 

 our drawing is wrong in exhibiting the mother as swim- 

 ming fast, and being followed by her brood. The parent 

 swims about slowly, while the young ones surround her 

 on every side. In a little while they increase in size, 

 and as they grow older they obtain more confidence, and 

 quitting, forget the anxious care that guarded them in 

 their early hours. 



This species appears to be pretty generally diffused 

 all round Europe, and may be found in pools near low- 

 water, and in the sea near the margin ; though fre- 

 quently associated with, it appears generally to inhabit 

 the sea at a short distance further from the shore than. 



