GAMMARUS LOCUST A, 
381 
The plan I have adopted to watch this curious habit of 
maternal protection has been to place a single individual 
in a bottle of sea water. After a time, and that soon, 
the little crustacean seems at ease and swims slowly 
about, when the young fry leave her and swarm around 
her in a perfect cloud ; they never leave her for more 
than half or three-quarters of an inch, and as she 
slowly moves about they accompany her. If now 
one taps the side of the bottle with one’s finger nail, 
the swarm of larvae rush under their parent, and in a 
second are out of sight. The parent now becomes 
excited and swims about quickly as if trying to escape ; 
but by letting the bottle containing her rest quite still 
on a table she soon gets composed, when out come the 
young larvae again and swim about as before. This may 
be repeated as often as the observer wishes, and always 
with the same result. I have only seen this in one 
species, but it is quite a common species in Poole 
Harbour, and I have watched the interesting habit many 
times.” 
Our vignette represents this instance of parental 
instinct ; but our correspondent has informed us that 
our drawing is wrong in exhibiting the mother as swim- 
ming fast, and being followed by her brood. The parent 
swims about slowly, while the young ones surround her 
on every side. In a little while they increase in size, 
and as they grow older they obtain more confidence, and 
quitting, forget the anxious care that guarded them in 
their early hours. 
This species appears to be pretty generally diffused 
all round Europe, and may be found in pools near low 
water, and in the sea near the margin ; though fre- 
quently associated with, it appears generally to inhabit 
the sea at a short distance further from the shore than, 
