'TWIXT COLD AND HEAT. 71 



Animal life, in April, must not be ignored. Many 

 creatures that have been comparatively inactive dnring 

 the winter are now gradually assuming their summer 

 restlessness. Among the countless hundreds of objects 

 worthy of the rambler's attention, perhaps none are so 

 beautiful and full of interest as the fairy shrimps that 

 throng the dark waters of an upland sink-hole. This 

 hollow in the field has a foot or more of water in it 

 from November to June, and during the past winter 

 it was frozen to the bottom until the 1st of April. A 

 hard time, therefore, thought I, have these fairy shrimps 

 had, with not a drop of water to move in ; but they are 

 not to be judged by the delicacy of their anatomy. 

 There was a soft spot in the mud, somewhere, and when, 

 later in the month, I waded between cakes of ice, and 

 looked long into the depths of this upland pool, finally 

 I found the fairies in abundance, a few well grown, but 

 mostly mere babies. They were earlier in '84. On 

 the 22d of the month I gathered a great many, and all 

 fully grown. 



To describe them is impracticable. They are lilipu- 

 tian lobsters, pearly white, picked with crimson ; and 

 with eleven pairs of feathery legs that move with the 

 perfection of grace. They swim upon their backs, and 

 the movement of these legs or paddles is the very poetry 

 of motion. While the water remains cool, they will 

 dart, float, and ramble among the dead twigs and leaves 

 in the bottom of the pool, but disappear promptly, after 

 a few hot days, or more gradually, as the waters soak 

 away, if the weather is cool. Dr. Packard says of them : 

 'jAt Seekonk, Mass., they occurred abundantly May 2, 



