28 THE OCE.VN. 



purpose it curls its body up into the form of a "ball, 

 and then, suddenly returning to the struight position, 

 springs with a sudden bound from the bottom to the 

 surface, falling gradually down again to the same 

 place from whicli it sprung." It is a remarkable 

 character of all tliese pretty little icater-fleas, that they 

 have but a single eye, which is generally of a bright 

 crimson hue, sparkling like a little ruby, and is set in 

 the front of the head. Any of my inland readers, 

 who may have no opportunity for sea-side researches, 

 may form a very good idea of the form and habits of 

 these agile "minims of existence" by pulling up a 

 handful of the common duck-weed from a stagnant 

 pool, and putting a pinch of it into a clear glass 

 phial, nearly filled with water : numbers of the fresh 

 water Entomostraca will be almost certain to swim 

 out ; and the sight will amply repay the trouble of 

 procuring them, especially if viewed with a micro- 

 scope, or even a common magnifying glass. 



Probably the objects which would first arrest the 

 observation of one who for the first time visited a rocky 

 shore, would be, after the broad element itself, the 

 marine plants which in such abundance and variet}' 

 clothe the submerged rock. At a glance we perceive 

 that they are singular productions ; the vast size of 

 some, the strange and uncouth forms of others, 

 ftnd the extreme delicacy and vivid hues of many, 

 cannot fail to attract attention : and it needs not the 

 additional knowledge that many of them are pressed 

 into the service of man to assure us that they 

 are not less worthy of the consideration of rational 

 beings than others of the glorious works of God. 



