brackish" species; but that they can accommodate themselves to 

 either habitat there can be no doubt. 



We thus see that, independently of the saline element, some 

 ponds are more favourable to certain species of Ostracoda than 

 others, and we may reasonably assume that different species are 

 in some degree influenced by the different growths of the vegetation 

 of the ponds during the season. This holds true in regard to other 

 orders of the Microzoa. And it is a fact, howsoever we may explain 

 it, that scarcely any two of these ponds are alike in the vegetation 

 which they support, so that the causes of difference between them, 

 whatever it may be, influences the plant as well as the animal life. 

 These observations require to be followed out over a more 

 extended area, and a larger accumulation of facts obtained before 

 any satisfactory conclusions can be arrived at. Hitherto there 

 has been but little done in this department of Natural History in 

 Scotland, and few to lead or assist. For these reasons it has been 

 in a great measure overlooked, and other branches of a more 

 popular kind preferred. 



It may be useful to refer to a few of the places which have 

 yielded the best results both in variety and abundance of species 

 of Ostracoda, as it frequently happens, when information is 

 derived only from maps, or from persons unacquainted with this 

 class of organisms, that the collector is left wholly uncertain as to 

 the suitability of a locality for his pursuit. Many fine sheets of 

 water are quite barren of Ostracoda, or nearly so, while, on the 

 other hand, they are often abundant in places where such organisms 

 might be least expected. 



Govan Colliery Dam, a short distance east of Crosshill, Glasgow, 

 may almost be mentioned as a thing of the past. There can be 

 no doubt that, considering the demand for suburban ground for 

 building purposes, this small patch of water, so accessible from 

 the city, and which has yielded for years many fine gatherings of 

 various species of Ostracoda, will shortly be filled up and dis- 

 appear. It has yielded the following species: — 



Cypris gibba, - Ramdohr. 



Icavis, - Muller. 



compressa, - - Baird. 



virens, - Jurine. 



reptans, - - Baird. 



