THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



destroy all life.* Yet, in the salt-works at Ly- 

 mington, in Hampshire, the reservoirs of concen- 

 trated brine are always peopled by immense 

 numbers of an elegant little animal, quite peculiar 

 to such situations, which sport about in all the 

 enjoyment of existence. The little creature is a 

 sort of shrimp, and is commonly known as the 

 brine shrimp, t It is nearly half an inch in length, 

 and is furnished with eleven pairs of leaf-shaped 

 limbs. ''There is nothing," says M. Joly, "more 

 elegant than the form of this little crustacean; 

 nothing more graceful than its movements. It 

 swims almost always on its back, and moves 

 rapidly through the element. The feet are in con- 

 stant motion, and their undulations have a soft- 

 ness difficult to describe.*' Besides these animals, 

 the brine is inhabited by incalculable multitudes 

 of a microscopic animalcule of a crimson hue, on 

 which the brine-shrimp feeds, and which impart to 

 its translucent body their own roseate colour. 



A similar creature, but of another species, \ dis- 

 tinguished by a broad crescent-shaped shield over 

 the head, inhabits lakes, highly charged with 

 nitre and common salt, in North Africa. The 

 animals are so numerous that they are caught 

 with muslin nets, and dried in the sun in the form 

 of a red paste or cake, which is highly esteemed as 

 an article of food, having the flavour of red 

 herring. 



Mr. Darwin found, near Buenos Ayres, a shallow 

 lake of brine, which in summer is converted into 

 a field of snow-white salt. The border of the lake 

 is a fetid, black mud, in which are imbedded large 



* Goadby's preservative fluid contains but three-quarters of a 

 pound of salts to a gallon of water. 



+ Artemia salina. 



% A. Oudneyi. See "Excelsior," i. 229, for figures of both, 

 species. 



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