FEESHTVATEE LIFE. 17 



lia<l been fast miiltiplj-'ing. The water, held tip to the Ught, was literally 

 blood-red with abundance of Daphnia. Though warm days, especially 

 if a little cloudy, are more propitious to the dipping-bottle than cold 

 ones, I have tried my luck with success even in winter, when the ponds 

 were covered with thick ice. A water-trap made in the following way 

 will be I'oimd very useful : — A glass jar about three inches wide at the 

 top is fitted with a large bung ; the bung has two holes to receive two 

 funnels inserted on opposite sides, one funnel being small enough to 

 go mouth dovvTi wards into the jar, and having its mouth covered with a bit 

 of fine muslin. This acts as a strainer, and keeps back the live objects of as 

 many bottles full of water as you choose to pom- into the larger funnel. 



The Entomostraca are natiurally and in the main carnivorous. 

 Indeed, one of then- great uses in the economy of natiu'e is to eat up 

 decaying animal matter, which might other\vise taiut the aii' or the 

 water. They appear also to prey upon one another; while they are 

 themselves the food of numei'ous aquatic animals, beetles, larvae of 

 insects, and so foi-th. Common sense will dictate what must be done to 

 keep these little beings in our aquarium for observation. We must 

 retain their food and exclude then- enemies. In the struggle for esist- 

 ence amongst themselves the Cyprides appear to have the advantage. 

 Some sprays of VaUisnt'ria, Anacharis, or Jlyriophijllum should always be 

 placed in the tank, to keep the water fi-esh, and to afford suitable 

 harboui' for the Entomostraca, and for their prey. 



The Entomostraca have been arranged in four orders, of VN-L::h >ve 

 shall take a series of examples : — 



1. — Ostracoda, such as Cypris, Candona, &c. 



2. — Copepoda, such as Cyclops, Canthocamptus, l^c. 



3. — Cladoc.'ra, such as Daphnia, Chj'dorus, &c. 



4. — PJiyllopoda, such as Cheirocephalus. 



The aqiiarium is sure to contain, even when other lands have dis- 

 appeared, swarms of active little specks of a bivalve shape, clustering we&x 

 the glass, and moving about unceasingly amongst one another. Take 

 one out with the . dipping tube ; you have almost certainly one of the 

 many species of Cypris. You observe that the body is nearly .enclosed in 

 a loose jacket of two valves joined over the back, leaving the animal 

 free to protrude below the bristly oi'gans by which it swams. Taken out 

 of its jacket or carapace,, the body seems pinched up about the middle 

 into two halves, the one corresponding to head and thorax, the other to 

 abdomen and tail. There are two pairs of antennas ; the upper pair 

 being employed for s-«nmming only, the lower for both swimming and 

 walking. Next comes the mouth, consisting of an upper and a lower Up, 

 a pair of mandibles, and two pah's of jaws. The number of legs cannot 

 be stated with certainty. I have noticed only two pah's. Then follows 

 the abdomen, with its two lengthened stalks, each terminated by three 

 short hooks. This is the principal swimming organ, being rapidly jerked 

 out behind for that piu-pose. Breathing is effected by means of gill- 

 plates attached to the hinder pair of jaws, with some assistance fi'om the 

 feathered bristles of the larger antenna and the general sm-face of the 

 body. But there are no branchial aiipendages to the legs as there are in 

 Daphnias. Cypris agrees with most other Entomostraca in having only 

 one eye. The species most common in the neighboui'hood of Nottingham 

 are Cypris vidua, C. minuta, C. aurantia. If you search carefully the 

 surface of gravel in yoiu- aquarium you may chance to see a little oblong 

 homy speck making its way by fitful jerks. This wiU probably turn out 

 to be a rather large member oi the same family, named Candona reptans. 

 It has the comical habit of creej)iug in preference to swhnming. I have 

 found it about here in meadow di-ains, and have successfully bred it in 

 my aquarium from season to season. 



[to be continued.] b 



