88 THE STORY OF LIFE IN THE SEAS. 



female Copepods usually carry, securely fastened 

 to their tails, two little pear-shaped sacks of 

 eggs, which are sometimes bright green, blue 

 or red. 



Endless are the varieties of form and colour 

 presented by these little creatures, and endless 

 are the beauties which the study of their struc- 

 ture reveals; but as we have mentioned them 



Fio. 25. A free-swimming Copepod. 



first as inhabitants of the surface waters of the 

 seas, we must pause to consider here how these 

 organisms, which excite so much wonder and ad- 

 miration, are adapted or fitted for their peculiar 

 mode of life. But it must be remarked that 

 these statements apply only to the free-swimming 

 Copepods, for many animals classed in this group 

 by zoologists are parasites, and as such are so pro- 



