Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/88

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60
Insects.

ated, the cilia or setæ being long, especially at the extremities, where the antenna? are knobbed or dentated on the upper surface. Immediately above the long antennae are the two short ones, each consisting of only about two or three articulations, and furnished with setae: the antennules, as in the genus Cyclopsina, to which this insect is nearly allied, are divided into two branches, which are terminated by rather long cilia. On each side of the body, attached to the sides of the insect, we see four feathery bodies, which spread out straight from the body, the use of which I do not know; they did not appear attached to the legs, nor did their movements seem apparently connected with them. Being regular in number and situation, they would appear to belong to the insect and not to be parasitical. The legs are each furnished with numerous setae or branchial filaments, as in all the other insects of this order. The last articulation of the tail is bifurcated, each of the divisions sending off two long filaments and a short one.


a. Oithona splendens. b. Oithona plumifera. The line shows the natural size of both.


Inhabits the Atlantic Ocean. "May 27, 1832, in lat. 3° 24' N. long. 22° 07' W.; during the middle watch, the sea was observed to be extremely luminous. In the morning drew up some water from alongside, and upon examining it found several small animals in it, one of which is the one here described. "—Private Journal.