CRABS AND SHRIMPS 205 



my finger, I will endeavor to catch one. It is no easy 

 matter, as you see, for the instant the end of the tube is 

 brought near to one, he takes the alarm and leaps nimbly 

 away before I can make the water rush in by withdrawing 

 my finger from the other end. But I have one at length. 



Here it is a minim of life not more than a sixteenth 

 of an inch in length, looking something like a pellucid 

 egg, furnished with long antennae, with five pairs of 

 branching feet, and a long tail terminating in bristles. 

 But its parts and organs must not be dismissed in this 

 summary way; we must look at them in detail. 



And first of all, in the very midst of his forehead, like 

 that obscene giant 1 after whom our tiny atom is named, 

 he bears a single eye that glares like a ruby. It would 

 need no vast beam of olive-wood sharpened and heated in 

 the fire, and "twirled about' 7 by the united strength of 

 five heroes, to "grind the pupil out"; for though brilliant 

 and mobile, it is far too minute to be touched by the tip 

 of the finest needle. Yet it is elaborately constructed; 

 for it consists of a number (not very large) of simple eyes 

 placed beneath a common glassy cornea. Several muscle- 

 bands are attached to this compound organ of vision, and 

 are arranged so as to form a cone, of which the eye is the 

 base ; these give the eye a movement of rotation upon its 

 centre which may be distinctly seen. 



All the limbs, including both pairs of antennae, two 

 pairs of foot-jaws, five pairs of feet, and a pair of tail- 

 lobes, are furnished at each of their many joints with tufts 

 of long hairs; these appear to act the part of paddles, as 

 the active little animal strikes the water vigorously with 



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OdyBS."IX. 



