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The Entomostraca of Wanstead Park.* 



By D. J. SCOURFIELD. 

 {Read 2iovemher l^th, 1892.) 



So far as can be ascertained from the literature dealing with 

 the British Entomostraca, comparatively few attempts have 

 been made in this country to obtain good local lists of these 

 very interesting micro-Crustacea, or to systematically watch 

 their appearance in limited areas. The following notes, there- 

 fore, of observations upon the Entomostraca of "Wanstead 

 Park, extending over the last three years, will probably 

 possess some interest for students of the inhabitants of our 

 lakes, ponds, and ditches. 



An undertaking of this sort, if properly and exhaustively 

 carried out, would undoubtedly yield valuable results. So 

 little is certainly known of the distribution of microscopic 

 organisms, of the causes of their apparently capricious appear- 

 ance and disappearance in particular localities, or of the 

 developmental cycles which many of them pass through, that 

 reliable data bearing upon these subjects would necessarily be 

 of considerable importance. Such data can, for the most part, 

 only be obtained by the careful and long-continued examination 

 of the forms found in small areas, or even in single ponds, in 

 various parts of the country. But it is unreasonable for any 

 one worker to expect to be able to do this completely by himself. 

 In fact, from my experience with the Wanstead Park Ento- 

 mostraca, I am inclined to think that it is quite impossible for 

 a single individual, even when restricted to a small group of 

 animals, to do full justice to the most limited district. At any 

 rate, I am painfully conscious of my own shortcomings in the 

 attempt. Yet. while believing that much of this work must of 



* A short account of this Park, with a good map, will be fouud in £. N. 

 Buxton's excellent little book on " Epping Forest," published by Stanford. 



