84 D. BRYCE ON FIVE NEW SPECIES OF BDELLOID ROTIFERA. 



pace, and will often attract attention from the bright reddish 

 colour of the stomach wall. On closer examination it may be 

 readily recognised from the peculiar shape and pose of the spurs, 

 which are quite distinctive, and from the many-toothed rami. 

 Under more natural conditions, it takes shelter in any convenient 

 recess among debris or in leaf axils, and there makes its home, 

 protruding the head and neck when it desires to feed. 



The second species, Habrotrocha torquata, has similar many- 

 toothed rami, but in several other respects differs distinctly from 

 H. munda. I believe that in some quarters it has also been 

 accepted as Callidina elegans Ehrbg., probably on account of the 

 rami. Unlike H. munda, it is never found in ditches or ponds, 

 but has its habitat usually in mosses growing in positions fre- 

 quently wet. The spurs are of simple form and the stomach wall 

 is never of reddish tint. It has not been observed to seclude itself 

 in any way and is of comparatively quiet habit. Its specific 

 name was suggested by a curious but illusory appearance in some 

 positions of an annulus encircling the expanded corona. 



The third of the pellet-making species, Habrotrocha spicida, is a " 

 rather smaller form, which has the, so far, unique distinction of a 

 single spine of small size placed on the pre-anal segment on the 

 median dorsal line. When the body is contracted, or when the 

 animal is seen in lateral view, this spine is sufficiently obvious, 

 but at other times it is most easily overlooked. In my own 

 experience this Bdelloid has only occurred in hilly country in 

 elevated positions, but I learn from Mr. James Murray that he 

 has also met with it in lowland habitats. 



The fourth species, Habrotrocha ligida, is one of those puzzling 

 forms which can only be recognised with certainty when it is feed- 

 ing. It is mainly distinguished by the possession of a small fleshy 

 tooth, which stands erect in front of the narrow sulcus between the 

 two pedicels of the corona, difficult to discern except in direct dorsal 

 view. In other respects it offers little to remark. 



For my earliest knowledge of the new Callidina, I am indebted 

 to my esteemed correspondent the late Forstmeister L. Bilfinger, 



