30 POND LIFE 



When food is plentiful and other conditions favourable, large 

 numbers of unfertilised eggs are produced, which hatch shortly 

 after being laid. 



Before we leave the water-fleas mention must be made of 

 their characteristic single eye. At a very early period in the 

 babyhood of the creature two eyes were present, but these 

 before long fused together, and were surrounded by special 

 tissue. Certain species of the Phyllopoda have two eyes, 

 whilst in others the eye resembles that of the Cladocera (water- 

 fleas) 



CYCLOPS 



Cyclops, the one-eyed giant of Greek mythology, has a worthy 

 namesake in the personality of Cyclops, the one-eyed crus"- 

 tacean. In size the latter is far from being a giant, but on the 

 contrary is a tiny pear-shaped, creature. Its one eye, the result 

 of two fused together, is the only thing that bears any resem- 

 blance whatsoever to the mythological character. 



There are several species of cyclops, similar in appearance but 

 differing in size and colour. They are all pear-shaped with long 

 antennae, and a single medial eye. They have four pairs of 

 legs, each pair being fastened together by a transverse muscle, so 

 that the leg on one side and its fellow on the other move to- 

 gether. Hence the creature is driven through the water in a 

 peculiar dart-like manner. 



The male, which is rarer and smaller than the female, is easily 

 differentiated frem the gentler sex by the absence of encum- 

 brances. The female cyclops carries one or two egg-bags, 

 fastened to her abdomen ; each bag contains fifty or sixty eggs. 

 The young ,when hatched, in no way resembles its parents. It 

 is a peculiar little creature, typically a larva of the crustacean. 

 As soon as it enters the world it leads an independent life, 

 driving itself through the water by an occasional powerful 

 stroke. It is so minute that it is practically invisible, and 

 could be mistaken for a tiny speck of dust. 



The larva undergoes a series of changes, and eventually takes 

 the form of the adult cyclops. On one occasion I found a black 

 cyclops carrying her egg-bags. In two days her colour bad 

 noticeably changed was in fact lees dark and on the seventh 

 day the eggs hatched. 



The female's colour, which at the beginning of the week had 

 been black, was now of lightest brown. She was swimming to 

 and fro in a most weird manner, head downwards, antennae 

 spread out as if intently searching the neighbourhood for her 



