LE11NEAD.E. 311 



blind.* Baker, in the ' Philosophical Transactions' for 

 1744, vol. xliii, describes a somewhat similar " new dis- 

 covered sea-insect," which he calls " the eye-sucker," and 

 which he found " fixed by the snout'^ to the eyes of sprats. 

 The figure is very poorly executed, so much so, that it is 

 not possible exactly to make out the species ; but a Lernea 

 does infest the common sprat of this country, and has been 

 figured by Mr. J. Sowerby in the ' British ]\Iiscellany.' f 



In 1746 Linnaeus, in his ' Fauna Suecica,' first edition, 

 described a parasitic animal found upon the Cyprinus 

 Carassiiis, " Avhose blood it sucks." lie established from 

 this species the genus Lernea. In his ' Iter Wast Gotlia,' 

 1747, he notices another species found on the gills of a 

 species of Gadm ; and in his second edition of the ' Fauna 

 Suec.,' 1761, he adds a third, as inhabiting the gills of 

 the salmon, wOiich had been figured and described by 

 Gisler, in the 'Act. Holmens.' (Kongl.Vetensk. Handling.) 

 for 1751, under the name o{ Pedicidus sahnonis.X In 

 the 'Syst. Nat.,' 12th edition, 1766, he adds a fourth 

 species to the list, and up to that time these four consti- 

 tuted all that Linnaeus admitted into the genus Lernea — 

 a genus which, since his time, notwithstanding the diffi- 

 culties attending its investigation, has increased a hundred- 

 fold, and now constitutes a large family. So bizarre in 

 appearance are these LerncEe, that Linnaeus had no idea 

 that they belonged to the Crustacea ; on the contra ly, he 

 places them amongst the worms, 



" Of all the curious creatures which the naturalist meets 

 with in his researches," says Dr. Johnston, " there are 

 none more paradoxical than the Lerneae ; none which are 

 more at variance with our notions of animal conformation, 

 and which exhibit less of that decent proportion between 

 a body and its members which constitutes what we choose 

 to call symmetry or beauty. "§ It is no wonder, then, 



* Decuria, ii, p. 126. 



f The Lerneonema monillaris, M. Edwards. 



% Act. Holmeus., 1751, p. 181, t. 6, f. 1-5. 



§ Loudon's Magazine of Natural Hislorv, viii, .565. 



