8 AMPHIPODA NOHMALIA. 



protects them from the cold. This hypothesis agrees with my own 

 obsciTation ; for during the cold weather of the wnnter of 1843-44, 

 1 endeavoured to find them in Whitsand Bay, Plymouth, and failed, 

 as did also my friend Mr. Barlee, at Exmouth, who noticed their 

 general absence. 



The Talitri are carnivorous in their feeding, being one of our 

 shore- cleansers, by devouring the animal matter thi'o-s\-n up by the 

 sea. I once noticed a number of these cmstacea* congregated toge- 

 ther beneath a stone, busy in devoming a common earth-worm, on 

 Loughor Marsh, Glamorganshire. 



My friend Mr. Swain told me that, some years since, he was one of a 

 picnic party at \Miitsand Bay, near Plymouth, when he observed the 

 shore covered, not by hundreds or thousands, but hterally by cart- 

 loads of these Crustacea. A lady's handkerchief which was dropped 

 for a few minutes was perceived, upon being recovered, to be per- 

 forated by myriads of small holes, the work of these creatures, who 

 moreover preyed upon each other, every weak one being instantly 

 devoured by the rest ; and in their turn these became food for birds, 

 which devoiu'ed them greedily. The birds are not their only enemies. 

 Mr. White, in his valuable ' Manual of British Crustacea,' states, upon 

 the authority of Mr. HaUday, that they are devoured by CiUenv.m 

 laterale : and Mr. Reading of Plymouth informs me that they also fall 

 a prey to a little beetle (Brosais cephalotes) that exists upon the 

 shores. 



Their colour, vthen ahve, is a light fawn, often marked with 

 black upon the back, which changes to a bright red when the animal 

 is dead and dried in the arr and sun. 



Talitrus Locusta is to be met with most probably on all the sandy 

 shores of the temperate zone of western Europe. In our own 

 country we have received them from the Moray Frith, in Scotland, 

 where, the Rev. G. Gordon says, they are to be met with in great 

 abundance. We have noticed them common in the south of England 

 and Wales ; and Mr. W. Thomson and Professor Kinahan record 

 them in Ireland ; so that perhaps the noticeable fact would be their 

 absence. 



In other parts of Eiu'ope, Milne-Edwards records them from St. 

 Malo, and says they inhabit the north and west coasts of France. 

 M. Guerin states that he has taken them in the Bay of Laconia in 

 Greece ; Risso has found them at Nice ; and M. Lucas brought some 

 home from Algiers. 



This is one of the most perfect land-species that we have among 

 the Amphipoda, being in its habits purely terrestrial, never having 

 been taken in the water : yet a certain amount of saline moisture 

 appears necessary to lubricate the external covering of the branchial 

 organs ; therefore, though living on land, they have, hke all Crus- 

 tacea, a purely aquatic character. 



They are vulgarly known as Sand-hoppers, from their great 

 leaping powers. In France, according to Edwards, they have con- 



* It was some years since. I do not reoollect examining the animals closely ; 

 they might hare been Orchesfiff. 



