THE SHORES OF BKITAIN. 25 



shall find, if we carefully examine it, that, rniniite 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, display similar instincts, some of them inhabit- 

 ing holes in the sand, very near low-water mark, and 

 therefore 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 Entomostraca, 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 which are not equal to that 

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

 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 lie met with in all the 

 little pools amongst tlie rocks on the sea-shores. 

 They live amongst the Fuci and Confer ccb, &c., whicli 

 are to be found in such pools ; and the naturalist 

 may especially find them in abundance in those 

 beautiful clear little round w^ells which are so often 

 to be met with, hollowed out of the rocks on the 

 shores of our country, which are within reach of the 

 tide, and the w\ater of which is kept sweet and whole- 



