PHYLLOPODA. 105 



reduced to a few drops ; as there were several females amongst them 

 with mature ova, and conceiving that the remnant of Brine might 

 still contain the requisite number of its peculiar animalcula to ori- 

 ginate a suflicient stock of appropriate food for any of the Brine 

 Shrimp that might hatch, I put it, together with the oviferous con- 

 ceptacles of the females, into an artificial Brine, and had the satis- 

 faction to see my hopes realized by the birth of several individuals, 

 some few of which lived, went through their several stages of evolu- 

 tion, and finally attained to near their full gro^vth. 



Tlie Artemis Salinus or Brine Shrimp, is a very small and delicate 

 animal, when fullgro\m about half an inch in length, of considera- 

 ble transparency, slightly tinged with yellow, and with a highly 

 polished surface ; nature having constructed them with members 

 solely adapted to swimming, they seem to be in perpetual pursuit of 

 prey, gliding with an almost even motion through the water, and 

 moving with equal indifference and facility on the back, belly or 

 sides ; the shape of the animal, the undulating movement of its fins, 

 and the glossy appearance of its coat, render it an object of a very 

 interesting description, more especially when apprized that anala- 

 gous animals appear to have been the first created conspicuous in- 

 habitants of the primitive fluid, of which these may be regarded as a 

 degenerate or pigmy race. Hitherto the only localities in which 

 these little animals have been observed, are some salt lakes in Sibe- 

 ria, and the Salt-pans at Ljinington ; in these situations, however, 

 they occur in the greatest abundance, and at the last named place, 

 making their appearance in the early part of spring, multiplying be- 

 yond conception during the summer and autumn, and disappearing 

 during the winter months, a phenomenon common to many of the 

 smaller Crustacea. As in all salt works the pits have different des- 

 tinations, it must be observed, that they are not found indiscrimi- 

 nately in all, but principally in the tanks called clearers, in which 

 the brine acquires such strength as to furnish 4 oz. of salt to the 

 pint measure ; by the account with which Mr. Racket has favoured 

 us, (Linn. Trans., vol xi.), it would appear that the workmen attri- 

 bute to them the property of assisting in the clearing of the brine, 

 and hence transport them to such tanks as seem to be without 

 them. How they came originally to the Salterns at Lymington, and 

 what animalcula live in so strong a solution to afford them food, 

 must be left to future investigators placed under more favourable 

 circumstances. 



If closely observed, the head appears furnished with a pair of 

 spreading eyes, easily distinguished by their black colour, with a 

 pair of filiform antennte, and further with a pair of lateral appen- 

 dages, of considerable size in the male, inclined towards the belly of 

 the animal ; the anterior half of the body shews a close row of late- 

 ral fin-like members, and deeply fringed ; the posterior half is linear, 

 extended, and ends in a fork. 



The gradual developement of the Embryo, and the metamor- 

 phoses it undergoes from its firstproduction until arrived at a per- 

 fect or adult state, will be foimd to correspond with those noticed in 

 Branchipus,C"hicro(ephaIu.s and A jius. animals with which its alliance 

 can no longer remain doul>tful. 



