374 The Upper Elf Loch, Braids. [Sess. 



it in a genus by itself, as it was not a Furcularia (in his Supplement to 

 ' The Kotifera,' p. 19). It is a large and handsome species. Mr Western 

 has found it in England, and I have found it in Scotland and in 

 Ireland. 



The mites are a group of the Arachnida, to which, unfortu- 

 nately, very few workers devote themselves. Several genera 

 and species are present in this sheet of water, but we have 

 been unable to identify some of them. In two gatherings 

 taken during the last year, a few specimens of a male or tailed 

 swimming mite were found. The male mites are as rare as 

 are the male Daphnias, to be afterwards referred to, amongst 

 the Entomostraca ; and they are, besides, so different in 

 appearance from the round or female mites, that it is extremely 

 difficult to pair them. The male mite found belonged to the 

 Arrenuri {Arrenurus buccinator), and was a beautiful creature 

 — the body blue, with tail yellow, shading off to deep orange, 

 and the eyes bright vermilion. The spur on the last joint 

 but two of the hind legs, characteristic of the male, was very 

 large. The motions of the mites in the water are even and 

 graceful, — very unlike the jerky movements of the water-fleas, 

 for example. It may be added that an insect found in the 

 loch, or rather on its surface, which was very plentiful in 

 some seasons, was the Common Water Spring-tail (Podura 

 aquatica). 



The study of the crustacean inhabitants of the Upper Elf 

 Loch has proved very interesting. The following brief sum- 

 mary shows what has been done, and the results that have 

 been obtained, in the course of our study of these organisms. 

 Of the series of gatherings collected, twelve have been ex- 

 amined for Crustacea. Four of these gatherings were made 

 in 1896 — in March, May, July, and October; six were 

 collected in 189 7 — in March, May, June, July, September, 

 and November; while in the present year (1898) one gather- 

 ing was taken in February and another in April. The total 

 number of crustacean species that have been obtained from 

 these twelve gatherings is thirty-two. Sixteen species, or 

 half of the total number, belong to the Copepoda, five to the 

 Ostracoda, and eleven to the Cladocera. The Copepoda belong 

 to two distinct groups — viz., the Cyclopida? and the Harpac- 

 ticidae. The first is represented by nine and the second by 





