GENUS EPICLINTES. 773 



ceding form, combined with the unsuitability of the generic name with which 

 Sterki has proposed to associate it. Its distinctness from the ordinary Oxytrichce 

 is recognized by Stein in his original account of the species ; in this connection 

 he indicates that the structure of the peristome conforms more closely with that 

 of Stichotricha secunda, and further remarks that it requires only the greater prolon- 

 gation of the anterior extremity to transform it into an essentially identical animal- 

 cule. Additional evidence in support of this suggested relationship, though not 

 mentioned by Stein, is yielded by the development of the ventral setae, which, 

 though few in number, exhibit a similar oblique disposition. The short and scarcely 

 conspicuous anal setae are, as in Plagiotricha strenua, highly flexible and frequently 

 utilized as ambulatory organs. 



GENUS IX. EPICLINTES, Stein. 



Animalcules free-swimming, highly flexible and elastic, elongate, divided 

 as it were into three distinct regions, including an inflated and widest central 

 region, a narrower anterior, and an elongate posterior or tail-like portion ; 

 peristome-field extending to the posterior end only of the narrowest 

 anterior region ; three or four rows of short claw-like frontal styles clothing 

 the ventral surface of the anterior extremity ; six or seven oblique rows 

 of short ventral styles or setae developed upon the central part, and two or 

 more straight parallel rows of short ventral setae upon the elongate caudal 

 region ; a peripheral row of short marginal setose cilia bordering the caudal 

 and central parts; terminal anal styles four or five' in number; anal 

 aperture debouching upon the posterior end of the inflated central portion ; 

 contractile vesicle single, subcentral or situated near the termination of the 

 peristome-field. Inhabiting salt water. 



The luxuriant development of the ventral setae in this genus approximates it 

 most closely to Kerona and Urostyla, while in the specially prolonged caudal portion 

 it exhibits some resemblance to the genus Urokptus. Diesing* has proposed to 

 associate with the form previously selected by Stein as the type of the present 

 group, the generic title of Claparedia. 



Epiclintes auricularis, C. & L. sp. PL. XLIII. FIGS. 28-30. 



Body elongate, about six times as long as broad, the distal region oval, 

 rounded anteriorly, the central portion elongate-fusiform, about twice the 

 length of the anterior one, but not much wider ; caudal prolongation band- 

 like, nearly equalling in length the two preceding portions of the body ; 

 three oblique rows of short styles developed upon the ventral surface of 

 the anterior portion, six or seven obliquely parallel rows of setae on the 

 central part, and three straight parallel rows and a peripheral border of 

 similar setae on the caodal prolongation. Length of extended body 1-82". 



HAB. Sea water. 



This species, which is to be identified with the Oxytricha auricularis of Cla- 

 parede and Lachmann, is adopted by Stein as the type of his genus Epiclintes, 

 and is shown by that authority to differ most essentially from all ordinary Oxy- 

 trichce. The fuller details of this species, as supplied by Stein, he having himself 

 obtained it on the Baltic sea-board, differ slightly from those originally recorded 



* "Revision der Prothelminthen," ' Sitz. d. K. Akad. Wien,' 1866. 



