304 THE IKFLUENCE OF INANIMATE SURIiODNDINGS. 



alone of any importance to the question liere under discussion. 

 I myself, having been one of those very travellers, must own 

 myself guilty of such an oversight ; but if I nevertheless may 

 venture here to avail myself of the few incidental observations I 

 have made, they allow me to come to the following conclusion, 

 the same that we are led to by Schmarda's observations — that, 

 in feet, in by far the greater number of the Infusoria, Rotatoria, 

 Tardigrades, fresh- water Crustacea, and Worms, the European 

 and American species are so extremely alike that they seem, 

 in many cases to be perhaps even specifically identical. If 

 they were suddenly transferred to Europe, they would scarcely 

 alter the character of the fauna of our lakes and rivers in any 

 degree. 



I say scarcely, intentionally and with due consideration ; for 

 a few exceptions, at present unfortunatsly too little known, 



Fig. ?fy--Cyipris sp., from tlie Philippines. 



seriously disturb this uniformity; or else forms are entirely 

 wanting in other countries which, so far as our present ex- 

 perience goes, belong to the characteristic fauna of the fresh 

 waters of Europe. To this latter category belong the Crustacea 

 included in the group of Phyllopoda, which, wherever they 

 occur, live almost, or quite, exclusively in pools or sloughs. 

 Apus (see fig. 33) and Branchipus are the most familiar of the 

 European forms of this family. Quite similar species occur in 

 Forth America, Australia, the Feejee Islands, and Africa ; but 

 for seven years I vainly endeavoured to discover any species 

 whatever of this group in the Philippines ; they are equally 

 absent from the Pelew islands, and it would seem that they do 

 not occur in the Malayan Archipelago. But the Daphnidse and 

 CypridsB, which are associated with them in Europe and America 

 are'nowhere wanting. I have found them wherever I have 

 sought for them ; nay, indeed, species which were deceptively 



