30 BRITISH FRESHWATER RHIZOPODA. 



Australia. Clathrvlina elegans is much more abundant 

 in the waters of Pennsylvania than with us, and Lee- 

 </it<Teusia spiralis is as common in swampy places in the 

 Far West, and in New South Wales, as in the Sphag- 

 num-bogs of Britain. The Difflugias, Hyalosphenias, 

 Nebelas, and Heleoperas, the crystalline Quadrula rul- 

 V"/'/x, the Euglyphas, and many others, occur in equal 

 abundance on both sides of the Atlantic. 



The Rhizopoda inhabit ponds and lakes, marshes and 

 swamps ; wherever, in fact, enough moisture exists 

 to support a tuft of moss. They are plentiful in still 

 pools, on submerged vegetation, and in the surface- 

 ooze of ponds and ditches. At pond-sides, among the 

 stems of sub-aquatic Hypna, about the roots of Bar- 

 tramia fontana and Anlacomnium palustre, they may at 

 all times be found. Moist dripping rocks in sub-Alpine 

 districts and near the coast, in tufts of Bai-bula and 

 similar mosses; and the walls of aqueducts, where 

 frequently there is a percolation of water through 

 crevices of the masonry, sometimes yield the very rare 

 species. They nestle in the foliage of mosses and 

 liverworts, and among the masses of Conferva and 

 other lowly vegetation which affect such situations. 

 The Rhizopoda in these localities are not infrequently 

 associated with such diatoms as Gampylodiscus clipeiis 

 and Asterionella formosa, besides numerous Desmidian 

 forms. Difflugia constricta, I), globulosa, and often 

 D. arcula, with some forms of Arcella, find sufficient 

 moisture to sustain life in tufts of moss growing on the 

 trunks of trees and about their roots in shady woods. 



Various Amoebae, Pelomyxo, and most of the Arcellas, 

 as well as Difflugise, are commonly found in ponds and 

 ditches, and creeping about the foliage of aquatic 

 vegetation, Avhere they feed upon desmids, diatoms, 

 and Alga3 of various kinds. The flocculent matter 

 which invests the finely-divided leaves of Ceratoplnjllum, 

 Utricularia, and the aquatic Ranunculi, harbours a great 

 variety of Rhizopod life ; and some special and rare 

 kinds, such as Amoeba pilosa, should be sought for in 



