188 



EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE. 



of a broad squat form, something like what you might 

 suppose a Lobster to be, if it had been flattened between 

 two stones, without being actually destroyed. We have 

 two or three species, one of which is adorned with bril- 

 liant scarlet and azure paintings ; but I cannot tell to 

 which of them all this infant form belongs. 



ADULT SHORE-CKAB. 



You perceive that there is a general similarity between 

 these transparent little creatures and the Zoea described 

 1 »y Mr. Couch ; but there are great differences in detail. 

 The glassy shield or carapace shoots out in front in a stiff', 

 inflexible, very fragile spine. This is perfectly straight, 

 and nearly thrice the length of the whole shield. It is 

 beset, on various lines on its surface, with short slender 

 spmules jointed to shoulder-like angles, and not serratures. 

 Its interior is perforated by a canal which dilates and nar- 

 rows irregularly. The carapace posteriorly is semi-oval, 

 projecting a transparent convex vault over the part where 

 the abdomen is attached to it, as is seen when the latter 



