NOTES ON CRUSTACEA FROM FAIRLIE AND HUNTERSTON. 347 



new or rare. Nature's storehouse, however, is not so easily 

 exhausted. 



The conformation of the shore about Hunterston is somewhat 

 peculiar ; as the tide recedes, great stretches of sand and mud are 

 exposed, and are only covered to a small extent even when the 

 tide is full in. There are also numerous pools along the shore, 

 so situated that the water they contain may be almost fresh at 

 one time, and at another time decidedly brackish. Such a 

 conformation presents conditions favourable to the existence of 

 organisms that, in the great chain of life, constitute some of the 

 links between those creatures whose habitat is the sea, and those 

 that can only live in fresh water. Amongst the various groups 

 of the animal kingdom, few of them contain such an interesting 

 series of intermediate forms as that of the Crustacea. In Britain 

 these intermediate forms are mostly of small size, and their study 

 is considered to be correspondingly difficult. It therefore 

 happens that the study of these Micro-crustaceans is not so 

 popular as it deserves to be. Reflection on those matters led me 

 to think that, notwithstanding all previous research, Hunterston 

 might still retain some things that would more than repay the 

 trouble incurred in the search for them. 



My visit took place on a Saturday, early in September last, 

 when various things conspired to make it successful. The 

 weather could hardly have been better. I had also as a guide an 

 old and esteemed friend, who was thoroughly familiar with the 

 district, Mr. D. A. Boyd, of Seamill; and another old friend, 

 Mr. James Steel, of Glasgow, also accompanied us. Our research 

 commenced at Fairlie, and was continued till we were well 

 round the Hunterston Sands. The shore pools "were examined 

 with a little hand-net, an instrument that has proved very 

 serviceable for this kind of work. I confined my attention 

 chiefly to these shore pools, as, after a little experimenting, it 

 was found that they were likely to yield the best results, and in 

 them a large number of the species I am now to record was 

 secured. The Entomostraca obtained number fully sixty 

 species, and there are also about eleven species of Amphipoda 

 and Isopoda. 



The Entomostraca include representatives of the Copepoda, the 

 Ostracoda, and the Cladocera. The Copepoda are the most 



