Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1885-08-22
P0ND-LIFE IN MONTANA.

" aItl1g Tie Nlt&I breath, When Idrel1
Heaven
Shall bid the spirit blow. The hoary fen
In putrid streams, emits tile living cloud
Ofpestiicnce. Through subterranean cells
Where searching sunbeams scarce can
find a Way,
Earth animated heaves. The howery leaf
Wants not it's soft inhabitants. Secure
Within its winding citidal, the stone
Holds multitHues. : * Where the pool
Stands m&ntled DER with green, invisible
Amid the floating verdure, millions stray.
X Z Nor is the stream
Of purest crystal, nor the lucid air,
Though L transparent vacancy it seems,
Void Of their unseen people."-GoWPER
The spring was dry but the sum
mer was unusually wet. The prairie
was dotted with small lakes and
ponds of standing water. These yari-
Gus lakes and ponds have teemed and
those that still exist still TEEN with
myriads OF living creatures. Many
Of these animals are invisible to the
naked eye. Their structure is sur
pris1ng, interesting and often beauti-
ful.
The poet quoted above desires to
impress upon our minds the fact that
all nature is full Of life, seen and I'M
seen. We breathe it, eat it, drink it,
and trample upon it daily. Much
that we eat and drink is so full Of life
in minute forms that were we able to
see this life our food and drink would
be positively repulsive to Us. But
thanks to an Advise Creator, we can
not see it.
The present article has to do with
the inhabitants Of the ponds already
mentioned. More than one gentle
man Of Great Falls has noticed a DC
co1iar form Of life which appeared al
most suddenly in the various ponds
about the town. Several friends have
enqulred Of the writer what these ami
mails are. They belong to that large
class, the Crustacea which is repre-
sented by the crabs, Holsters, crayfsh,
etc. They must be placed in the
MaXillosa, but we cannot until further
examination place them in their prop
elsfamily, for they agree with the de-
scriptions of several families in some
respects, but agree with none in al.
However, We viii endeayort to describe
the animal IS it is. In the first place
we give the measurements Of the
largest specimen found:
Total length from tip to tip, three
inches; length Of shell, three-fourths
Of an inch; length Of body behindthe
shell, one and one-fourth inch: length
Of tail, n and one-sixteenth inch.
No danger Of us swallowing such a
creature without knowing it. Just
think Of swallowing one in the dark
What a luscious and juicy morsel it
would be, How nicely and pleasant
y it would tickle ones throat as it
squirIGod and wriggled its way down
the esophagus.
On tho upper side and anterior por-
ton Of the body this creature has a
shield or shell called the carapace.
which is shaped similar to the upper
she'll Of a turtle. This shield covers
the head, thorax and the sides. It's
p~oste.ior portion is cut in an anterior
direction almost in the shape of a
gothic arch. A raised line or keel
runs down the centre from near the
eyes. Around each side between the
margin and the keel is a raised sur
face shaped like a horse shoe. The
body is composed Of rings or seq
ments and the shield is considered
merely an enlargement and overlap
ping OF the first ring. It is Joined to
the animal only at the head. Each
ring has from a few to many small
points Or spines, placed on all sides
Of the body where the bronchial do
not interfere. And at the sides of
the body each ring is a small hook
curved toward the tail.
The animal breathes by what are
called bronchial, which take the place
Of lungs. Some Of these bronchial
are partly developed into legs or feet
and serve the purpose Of catching
food for their owner. So, this one
set OF organs serves the purposes Of
breathing, locomotion and foraging.
The extremity Of the tail is forked.
Each fork comes to a fine point and
is covered with minute bristles all
curved toward the point.
When the animal is in a healthy
state the bronchial, which are placed
along the lower side Of the body in
rows, are kept in almost constant
motion. They look quite interesting
as they vibrate il the water, causing
constant current to flow around
them. Any little animal that gets in
to this whirlpool had better make it's
will, for it is doomed to enter the
mouth Of its captor and die.
Unlike most Of the Crustacea, this
animal is comparatively sensitive. Its