Ottawa Phyllopods. 89 



back, can be watched through the microscope. A number of specimens 



were seen to be provided with a pouch immediately behind the limbs. 



These were females. This pouch is continually swayed about irom 



side to side, and contains opaque, globular eggs. From these eggs 



minute creatures, like small mites, emerge in the nauplius or larval 



condition. As the shallow pools inhabited by these creatures are liable 



to dry up, the eggs which drop to the bottom possess amazing vitality. 



They can endure heat and dryness for long periods; but the young 



hatch out immediately the ponds are filled by a rainfall. I have reason 



to know this, for the pond from which I obtained the Phyllopods in 



1893 was, soon after, dried up. I waited patiently for a year and again 



visited the spot, but could obtain none. The pond was dried up, and 



if any Phyllopods had hatched out they had wholly disappeared. On 



Good Friday, this year, I went to the place and found the water culd 



and icy, so that there were few forms of life visible, and no sign of the 



beautiful creatures I was looking for. Eight days later, however, I went 



again. It was evening and the water was warm. They had now 



appeared in abundance, and were swimming ab ut in shoals, like tiny 



minnows. They dart away when startled just as a fish does, but 



soon tire and are readily captured. Several visits to the pond 



enabled me to take a great number, sufficient for purposes of study; but 



the pond soon dried up, and no more were to be had. They glide 



about in a vessel of water and are never for a moment still. If noticed 



closelv, they are seen to swim back downward with the numerous feet 



turned towards the surface of the water. No creatures could be 

 imagined more active, delicate and graceful in their movements. Their 

 structure and peculiar habits of life and development are of the highest 

 interest, and they appear to be extremely local in their occurrence. 



A closely rel ited species is Artemia the Brine Shrimp which lives 

 in saline waters such as Great Salt Lake. Packard tells us that a 

 Russian naturalist found by experiment that it was possible to convert the 

 Brine Shrimp Artemia into the fresh-water Branchipus by reducing the 

 salty character of the water. This experiment has been much ques- 

 tioned, and it must be granted that such an alleged conversion of one 

 species into another is astonishing. At any rate Phyllopods in their 

 habits and breeding are unquestionably most remarkable creatures. 



In conclusion I wish to express my indebtedness to Professor Prince 

 Dominion Commissioner ot Fisheries, for suggestions in making these 

 notes upon this interesting crustacean. 



