ON MYSIS. 21 



nor indeed to the others, provided they are taken where 

 the water is pure and saline, and at a distance from rivers 

 and towns. The Opossum Shrimps in common with all 

 the smaller Crustacea, are animals which require the best 

 eyes and instruments to observe properly, and the most 

 detailed sculpture to represent, if therefore the accom- 

 panying figures seem minute, they are rude when compared 

 with the originals. 



It is in looking closely into the structure of these little 

 animals, that we see the perfection of the Divine Artist ; 

 nature's greater productions appear coarse indeed to these 

 elaborate and highly finished master-pieces, and in going 

 higher and higher with our magnifiers, we still continue to 

 bring new parts and touches into view. If for instance, we 

 observe one of their members with the naked eye — which 

 may be the utmost stretch of unassisted vision — with the 

 microscope it first appears jointed, or composed of several 

 pieces articulated together — employing a higher magnifier, 

 it appears fringed with long hairs, which on further scrutiny 

 gain a sensible diameter and seem to be themselves fringed 

 with hairs still more minute ; many of these minute parts 

 are evidently jointed, and perform sensible motions, but what 

 idea can we form of the various muscles which put all 

 these parts in movement, of the nerves which actuate 

 them, and the vessels which supply them with the nutri- 

 tion essential to their growth and daily expenditure, all 

 of which we know from analogy, they must possess. 



The magnified figures in Plate I. and II. may furnish 

 some faint idea of the delicacy and elegance of most of the 

 parts in the Opossum Shrimps, particularly that of the 

 sub -abdominal fins Plate I. fig. 9, of the tail Plate II. fig. 2, 

 and above all, that of the hand of the second pair of feet, 

 fig. 3, which is at once complicated and beautiful, and 

 one of the most elegant microscopic objects that can 

 be conceived. 



