THE SHORES OF BRITAIN. 37 



extraordinary power in grasping, as well as aiding it 

 in obtaining its prey. In other respects, with regard 

 to its eyes, its antennae, its jaws, we shall find, if 

 we carefully examine it, that, minute as it is, being 

 scarcely an eighth of an inch long, its wants have 

 been accurately remembered and well supplied. A 

 few other British insects, likewise very small, dis- 

 play similar instincts, some of them inhabiting holes 

 in the sand, very near low-water mark, and there- 

 fore entirely submerged a great portion of their 

 time. 



On our rocky shores may be found in abundance 

 creatures still more minute than these, whose man- 

 ners, lively and sportive, are highly interesting. I 

 allude to the marine Untomoslraca, or insects with 

 shells, and particularly to those of the genus Cythere, 

 scarcely any of which exceed in diameter a large 

 pin's head, and most of them are not equal to that 

 of a small one. Imagine a pair of bivalve shells of 

 this size, irregularly oval, or kidney-shaped, from 

 which, slightly separated, protrude four pairs of little 

 curved claws, or feet, most delicately fringed, and 

 kept in constant motion ; and from one end a pair 

 of jointed antennas. Mr. Baird, who has attentively 

 studied their manners, gives the following pleasing 

 account of them: — "These insects are only to be 

 found in sea-water, and may be met with in all the 

 little pools amongst tha rocks on the sea-shores. 

 They live amongst the Fuci and Confer uce, &c, which 

 are to be found in such pools; and the naturalist 

 may especially find them in abundance in those 

 beautiful clear little round wells which are so often 



D 



