11 BRITISH ENTOMOSTRACA. 



that a person ignorant of the inliabiianis would not fail 

 at first sight to call them so ; and the very singular phe- 

 nomenon of annulose animals being so covered with a 

 shell, has supplied to Miiller the name of Entomostracon, 

 a term derived from two Greek words signifying " an 

 insect with a shell."* 



Previous to the appearance of Mliller's work, the few 

 species which were known were arranged under one genus, 

 Monoculus ; and they were so called from their possessing, 

 or appearing to possess, only one eye. SchoefFer proposed 

 the name BrancJiipodes for them, from their feet possessing 

 branchial appendages; and Miiller says he would have pre- 

 ferred this name to that of Monoculus, were it not that 

 several genera wanted these organs. The genera, however, 

 which he mentions, are the Nauplius and Amymone, and 

 the Cythere. The two former are only the imperfect young 

 of the genus Cyclops, and the latter has branchial ap- 

 pendages attached to the jaws. These facts, however, 

 he was not aware of, and therefore he preferred to either 

 of the above names that of Enlomodraca ; a name which 

 has been retained by almost all succeeding authors. 



We find several of these little creatures figured by 

 some of the earlier writers on natural history, and more 

 especially by the microscopical observers of the day. 

 Swammerdam, Redi, Leeuwenhoek, Trembley, Baker, 

 Frisch, and Joblot have given figures at least, and some of 

 them descriptions, of several species, while SchcefFer 

 has written three separate memoirs upon three different 

 gqnera, with minute details, and many illustrative figures. 

 Linnaeus in 1758 arranged all that were then known 

 under one genus, Monoculus, except two ; and GeofFroy, 

 Strom, Goeze, Herbst, and De Geer soon afterwards 

 added to the number. It is to the celebrated Danish 

 naturalist, Otho Fredericus Miiller, however, that we 

 are most indebted. To him we owe the collecting 

 the various species already made known into one 



* Miiller, Entomost., p. 2. 



IB\ 



