CRABS AND SHRIMPS. 203 



while confined under our eye, on the stage of the mi- 

 croscope. I refer to the tiny active little creatures 

 known as AVater-fleas, which arc abundant in both fresh 

 and salt water. 



In this jar of fresh water which has been standing 

 in the window for weeks, you may see among the 

 green filaments of Chara many little atoms which 

 scuttle hither and thither with a rapid succession of 

 short leaps. These belong to the genus Cyclops, and 

 are Crustacea, belonging to the order Extomostraca. 



By the aid of a glass tube which I stop at one end 

 with my finger, I will endeavour to catch one. It is 

 no easy matter, as you see, for the instant the end of 

 the tube is brought near to one, he takes the alarm and 

 leaps nimbly away before I can make the water rush 

 in by withdrawing my finger from the other end. But 

 I have one at length. 



Here it is : — a minim of life not more than a six- 

 teenth of an inch in length, looking something like 

 a pellucid egg, furnished with long antennas, with five 

 pairs of branching feet, and a long tail terminating in 

 bristles. But its parts and organs must not be dis- 

 missed in this summary way ; "we must look at them 

 in detail. 



And first of all, in the very midst of his forehead, 

 like that obscene giant* after whom our tiny atom is 

 named — he bears a single eye that glares like a ruby. 

 It would need no vast beam of olive-wood sharpened 

 and heated in the fire, and " twirled about" by the 

 united strength of five heroes, to " grind the piij^il 

 out ; " for though brilliant and mobile, it is far too mi- 

 nute to be touched by the tip of the finest needle. Yet 



* Odyss. IX. 



