Smaller fleas ... to bite 'em

"So, naturalists observe, a flea
Has smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bite ’em;
And so proceed ad infinitum."
by Jonathon Swift (1667-1745)

We were on a rugged shoreline a couple of weeks ago. The tide was at its maximum; we were scrambling over bare rocks, with nary a sign of life below the tree line.


I picked up an interesting rock, grey granite with an "icing" of white crystal , put it in my pocket. And forgot about it, until I was putting away my jacket at home. I took it out and dropped it on the table, and three tiny snails that I hadn't seen before fell off.

The snails were alive still. But they would die soon enough, and stink up the place if I kept them. I dropped them in a pill bottle with alcohol and put them aside for later investigation.

Tiny snail, 3/8 of an inch at it's longest axis.

A couple of days ago, I remembered them, and dumped out the alcohol onto a plastic lid. Something bright flickered in the liquid, and I trained my lens on it.


A beach hopper of some sort. Hitchhiking on the snail.

And I'll bet that it has its own stowaways.