2/0 The " Waier-Flea " Scare in our City. [Sess. 



almost total freedom from animal and plant life. There ivere 

 no fleas in Talla Reservoir." This reminds one of the cele- 

 brated chapter on snakes in Iceland. We are, besides, left 

 completely in the dark as to what the precise " flea " of the 

 present invasion is, though we have learnt that, whatever it 

 may be, it has not come from the Talla Eeservoir, which, 

 strangely enough, is said to be almost destitute of life of any 

 kind, — a state of matters which is a very doubtful good. 

 That it will not long remain so, but become in course of time 

 like all other lochs and reservoirs as regards the presence of 

 animal and plant life, may be regarded as certain. 



It is beyond dispute, however, that what are popularly 

 termed " water-fleas " are frequently found in the domestic 

 water-supply of some towns. Dr Scott has very kindly fur- 

 nished me with the following personal observations, hitherto 

 unpublished, regarding this. He says : " When I was at 

 Eothesay in 1886-87, somebody spoke of having seen minute 

 living creatures in the drinking-water, so I got a piece of 

 clean thick flannel, fixed it on the tap in our laboratory, and 

 allowed the water to run for a while. I then washed the 

 flannel in a tumbler of clean water, and found a splendid 

 collection of Entomostraca, Bosmina being the most common. 

 So numerous were they, that millions of them must have gone 

 down the throats of the dwellers in Eothesay, including our- 

 selves. ... On another occasion a friend sent me a small 

 sample of water from Campbeltown, collected from a tap, and 

 containing some interesting Entomostraca. I sent him the 

 names, but counselled quietness, so that little was heard of 

 the affair, and, so far as I learnt, neither in the one case nor 

 in the other had the medical men any extra work on hand 

 because of the occurrence of these harmless crustaceans. Why, 

 not so long ago Professor Herdman recommended furnishing 

 ships destined for long voyages with a number of large tow- 

 nets, so that should those on board be shipwrecked, or should 

 provisions run short, bagfuls of Copepods and other minute 

 crustaceans might be collected, and used partly or wholly as 

 food until a ship appeared or land was reached ; and I reckon 

 that a fresh-water Copepod or Cladocera is just as good in this 

 way as a marine one." This opens up a new source of food- 

 supply ! 



