MARCH, 1882. 145 



went to, that you were originally, or intended to be 

 ultimately, attached to, it would be difficult to say, 

 although it is certain you are intended by Nature, and 

 your parents, to obtain your living without too great an 

 effort. The little pig-like snout and the half-dozen limbs 

 will scarcely take the trouble to turn or move, and if you 

 draw all the limbs out one by one you can finish the 

 operation before the one with which you commenced 

 has drawn itself half-way back again. And yet most 

 ordinary Crustacea are especially active in your condition, 

 for you have a great deal to look after, a little bag with 

 many hundred eggs covering the whole under surface of 

 your body. At the end of every limb is a long sharp 

 claw, and the main purpose of its existence is clearly to 

 get a hold of a fat sinecure and hold on to it tenaciously. 

 We should suppose that seals are the most likely bodies 

 in which these parasites exist, and the only two we have 

 seen here seem to have been brought on oyster shells 

 from Linnhe Loch. But what chances and possibilities 

 of existence must surround such a creature ? By what 

 likelihood is it ever to meet a seal, seeing it is incapable 

 of hunting for them ; and the seal met, and found desir- 

 able, how about the likelihood of getting a hold of a 

 quiet, retired croft at the junction of some of the flippers 

 with the body, where it would do as little as it could 

 except at meal-times, and be quite safe from the evicting 

 habits of the Laird ? Then such snug corners must be 

 scarce even on the larger cetacea ; and what would be- 

 come of them if all these eggs of this little crustacean 

 were to mature would be a serious question. Indeed, 

 the question between the parasite and the animal it seats 

 itself upon is altogether a most interesting one, and no 

 doubt the lethargic habit of the body of most parasites 



