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 they are not slow in attacking the bodies of their own 

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

 carried down b}' the rivers, upon the marine iilgse which flourish 

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

 a fly, which 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 

 artemitE 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 w^ere cooked with no accom- 

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

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

 caught and preserved in quantity, I doubt not thev 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 artemiae 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 Arteinia fei-tilis (Verril) ; (2) the 

 larvEe of one of the Tipulidce, probably Chlronoinus oceatticus 

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

 (Uhler) ; (4) larvce and pupae of a fly, Ephydra gracilis (Pack) . 

 Of the last-named insect the larvae 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. 



