ON A EAEE EEITIsH ENTOMOSTKACON. 



The mere mud-loving propensities of the animal are not sufficient 

 to account for its dirty clothes. There must be something which 

 causes the dirt to adhere. According to Norman ;i it is probably in 

 consequence of these sluggish habits, and of the animal rolling itself 

 in the mud. as well as owing to the pilose covering of the shell, that it 

 owes the coating of mud. Diatoms,'' Ac. The existence of the ; ' pilose 

 covering," of which he here speaks, is rather doubtful. On this point 

 Kurz makes a statement which is more extraordinary than anything 

 yet related of it, and which distinguishes it from all its fellows. 



As is well-known, the Entomostraca, in common with other 

 -:acea, undergo periodical moultings of the outer skin, and at each 

 moult are always rather larger than the skin which they have cast off. 

 Ryocryptus sordidus, however, does not cast off the old skin of its 

 carapace, but wears it like an overcoat that is rather too small f i 

 outside the new one. When it has several of these old coats on, each 

 a little smaller than the next, it presents a "ridged" appearance like 

 an oyster-shell. But as the edge of the carapace is fringed with 

 branched setae, and these persist, each ridge is also bristling, i Fig. 2.; 

 and it is this structure that causes the dirt to adhere in such 

 quantities. 



THE OEIGIX OF MOUNTAINS. 



BY HOEACE B. WOODWARD. F.G.S. 



A great majority of the people, whether of this country or of any 

 other, have never seen a mountain. Most of the larger towns and 

 cities are placed near the mouths of rivers, or on some navigable 

 stream, a good means of communication being an essential adjunct to 

 growth. Mountains are situated at the heads of rivers : they are them- 

 selves their source and watershed. And the streams to which they 

 give rise are alternately peaceful rills or furious torrents ; useful as a 

 water supply, but useless for navigation. The mountains, in fact, are 

 barriers to traffic, and hence men do not congregate around them. 

 Few of us. therefore, have the opportunity of often going up into the 

 mountains; but so long as we hav no further than the Lake 



District, North Wales, or the Scottish Highlands, our minds will retain 

 ever pleasant pictures of these, which may be counted among the gra:. 

 objects of creation. The mysterious awe which surrounds mountains 

 has raised up many an imaginative thought. Hence, how often are they 

 the birthplace or home of the poet and the aitist, who may well be 

 content with the comtemplation of the present features, thinking of 

 things as they are, regarding the hills as " everlasting," and as formed, 

 perhaps, during some mighty convulsion when the earth was in its 

 throes, and mountains were brought forth out of chaos. But moun- 



• A paper read before the Norwich Science Gossip Club, 18 



