
NOTES ON CRUSTACEA FROM FAIRLIE AND HUNTERSTON. 347 
new or rare. Nature’s storehouse, however, is not so easily 
exhausted. 
The conformation of the shore about Hunterston is somewhat 
peculiar ; as the tide recedes, great stretches of sand and mud are 
exposed, and are only covered to a small extent even when the 
tide is full in. There are also numerous pools along the shore, 
so situated that the water they contain may be almost fresh at 
one time, and at another time decidedly brackish. Such a 
conformation presents conditions favourable to the existence of 
organisms that, in the great chain of life, constitute some of the 
links between those creatures whose habitat is the sea, and those 
that can only live in fresh water. Amongst the various groups 
of the animal kingdom, few of them contain such an interesting 
series of intermediate forms as that of the Crustacea. In Britain 
these intermediate forms are mostly of small size, and their study 
is considered to be correspondingly difficult. It therefore 
happens that the study of these Micro-crustaceans is not so 
popular as it deserves to be. Reflection on those matters led me 
to think that, notwithstanding all previous research, Hunterston 
might still retain some things that would more than repay the 
trouble incurred in the search for them. 
My visit took place on a Saturday, early in September last, 
when various things conspired to make it successful. The 
weather could hardly have been better. I had also as a guide an 
old and esteemed friend, who was thoroughly familiar with the 
district, Mr. D. A. Boyd, of Seamill; and another old friend, 
Mr. James Steel, of Glasgow, also accompanied us. Our research 
commenced at Fairlie, and was continued till we were well 
round the Hunterston Sands. The shore pools were examined 
with a little hand-net, an instrument that has proved very 
serviceable for this kind of work. I confined my attention 
chiefly to these shore pools, as, after a little experimenting, it 
_ was found that they were likely to yield the best results, and in 
them a large number of the species I am now to record was 
secured. The Entomostraca obtained number fully sixty 
species, and there are also about eleven species of Amphipoda 
and Isopoda. 
The Entomostraca include representatives of the Copepoda, the 
Ostracoda, and the Cladocera. The Copepoda are the most 
