1892.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 285 



As to their food, in captivity they live upon meat, bread, or 

 vegetables, and in fact upon almost anything in the nature of 

 food, and thev are not slow in attacking the bodies of their own 

 dead. In the lake they probably subsist on the organic matters 

 carried down by the rivers, upon the marine algic which flourish 

 about the shores, and upon the dead larvae and the pupa cases of 

 a flv, whicii are found in the water in great numbers. 



During a cruise upon the lake in September of the present year 

 the crustaceans were found in great abundance. When near the 

 middle of the lake, with a small tow net, we soon took a quart of 

 the shrimps, and thereupon resolved upon an experiment the sub- 

 sequent recital of which has shocked the gastronomic sensibilities 

 of some of my dearest friends. Reasoning that the bodies of the 

 artemiae were composed largely of chitin, we concluded that the 

 question of their palatability was at least worthy of investigation. 

 By a simple washing with fresh water the excess of lake brine was 

 removed, after which the shrimps were cooked with no accom- 

 paniments save a trifle of butter and a suggestion of pepper. They 

 were found to be actually delicious. If the artemice could be 

 caught and preserved in quantity _, I doubt not they would soon be 

 classed as an epicurean delicacy. 



The mounting of the crustaceans for permanent microscopical 

 use is by no means a simple undertaking, most of the ordinary 

 media causing the delicate structure to become distorted, or pro- 

 ducing such a transparency as to render the whole object invisible. 

 The method which I now use is to mount them in a preparation 

 of lake water, with corrosive sublimate and an alcoholic solution 

 of carbolic acid. Into this fluid the living artemite are transferred 

 directly from the lake brine ; they die quickly, but in so doing 

 spread themselves out most perfectly. By this method it is not 

 always possible to get the mount free from foreign particles, but 

 this is but a slight disadvantage. Before mounting I make a very 

 shallow cell of hot paraffin and balsam, and after the cover-glass 

 is in position I ring the edge with a very little of the same 

 material, following this with repeated layers of cement, King's 

 preferred. 



The popular literature of the day still declares that no living 

 thing can exist in the Great Salt Lake. The perpetuation of this 

 error is inexcusable. It is true, but very few species of animal 

 life have been found in the concentrated brine of the lake, but 

 some of these species there abound. Among the forms of life 

 already reported as existing in the lake I have confirmed the 

 presence of four: (i) the Artemia fei'tilis (Verril) ; (2) the 

 larvae of one of the Tipulidas, probably Chiro7ioinus oceajiictis 

 (Pack) ; (3) a species of Corixa, probably Corixa decolor 

 (Uhler) ; (4) larvae and pupte of a fly, Ep/iydra gracilis (Pack) , 

 Of the last-named insect the larva; are found in numbers near the 

 shore, and the pupa cases in the spring and summer wash ashore 

 in great numbers ; there they accumulate, undergoing decomposi- 

 tion with powerfully odorous emanations. 



