ARTEMIA. 55 



Bihliograpliical History. — We are indebted to Dr. 

 Schlosser for the first extended notice of tins little animal, 

 though he mentions it as having been indicated a short 

 time previously in the ' Journal Britannique.' In October 



1755, having visited the saltworks at Lymington, in 

 Hampshire, he went to examine the salterns, or reservoirs 

 where the brine is deposited previous to its being boiled. 

 In this strong liquor he discovered a vast number of small 

 insects, of a red colour, which tinged the whole cistern. 

 These he examined with care, watched all then motions 

 as they gambolled in their native element, and noticed the 

 great difference which distinguishes the male from the 

 female. Having made a tolerably accurate drawing, he 

 wrote a description of them, and sent it in a letter to M. 

 Gautier, in Paris, wdio had just at that time discovered a 

 method of engraving in colours, and w^as engaged in pub- 

 lishing his work called ' Observations periodiques sur la 

 Physique.' This letter appeared in the year following, 



1756, with figures of the animal, male and female. 

 Schlosser tells us that they were called by the workmen 

 brine-w^orms, and are chiefly to be found when the liquor 

 is very strong. Linnaeus, in his tenth edition of the 

 ' Systema Naturae,' 1758, shortly describes it under the 

 name of Cancer saliniis, and Fabricius, in his ' Entomolog. 

 Systemat.,' 1775, places it in the genus Gammarus, under 

 the name of G. salinus. No particular description of the 

 little creature, however, appears to be given by any per- 

 sonal observer after Schlosser's time, till the Rev. Mr. 

 Rackett called the attention of the members of the Linnean 

 Society to it, by reading a paper at their meeting, on the 

 16th of June, 1812, which was pubhshed in the eleventh 

 volume of their 'Transactions,' in the year 1815. Mr. 

 Rackett informs us, it is called the Lymington shrimp, or 

 brine-worm, and that it occurs in greatest number in the 

 salt-pits or reservoii's, where the liquor obtains the strength 

 of a quarter of a pound of salt to the pint of water. 

 When this hquor, he says, becomes much diluted with 

 rain-water, a few only are visible in it. 



