GENUS PHIALINA . 519 



prolongation; in two instances this part, Figs. 26 and 27, is shown to project con- 

 spicuously beyond the oral fringe of cilia, while in the other, Fig. 25, these cilia 

 seem to issue from the apical extremity itself, an aspect which would necessarily 

 result from the withdrawing inwards of this structure. The Trichoda ambigua of 

 O. F. Miiller * would seem to agree with this type in the flattened screw-like contour 

 of the posterior region of the body, and is possibly identical with it. At the same 

 time the body of Miiller' s species would appear to have a more elongate and 

 vermiform shape, and it is apparently not capable of contracting into a globular form. 

 Like the present species, it is an inhabitant of salt water. 



GENUS III. PHIALINA, Ehrenberg. 



Animalcules free-swimming, subcylindrical or flask-shaped, slightly 

 elastic, narrowest anteriorly, a portion of the yapical region separated from 

 the rest of the body, as in Trachelophyllum and Lacrymaria, by a circular 

 groove, and bearing a circlet of longer, usually reflected cilia ; the oral 

 aperture situated in the anterior annular groove, and not terminal as in the 

 two last-named genera ; cuticular surface finely and entirely ciliate ; 

 contractile vesicle single, adjacent to the postero-terminal anal aperture. 



With the exception of the antero-lateral, instead of apical position of the mouth, 

 the animalcules of this genus correspond essentially with those of Lacrymaria, and, 

 unless the exact position of this aperture is seen and determined, are liable to be 

 confounded with them. 



Phialina vermieularis, Ehr. PL. XXVII. FIGS. 36. 



Body subcylindrical, ovate or pyriform, narrowest anteriorly, two and a 

 half times as long as broad, the -apical portion in advance of the annular 

 furrow short and broadly cylindrical, its anterior margin truncate and bear- 

 ing a single circlet of cilia, these cilia usually directed backwards ; oral 

 aperture opening on the annular furrow ; surface of integument smooth, 

 finely and entirely ciliate ; contractile vesicle single, spherical, postero- 

 terminal ; endoplast ovate, subcentral, obliquely directed. Length of body 

 1-240". HAB. Pond water. 



The lateral position of the mouth of this animalcule has been very clearly indicated 

 by Ehrenberg, but, as intimated by Claparede and Lachmann, the figure referred to 

 most probably depicts an example observed at the moment of engulfing food, the 

 organ at other times being difficult to recognize. By Ehrenberg and various earlier 

 writers the cuticular surface of Phialina, as in the case of Lacrymaria, Trachclocerca, 

 and other forms, is described as being entirely glabrous. More recent observation, 

 assisted by the employment of superior magnifying lenses, has, however, determined 

 the presence of fine cilia throughout its whole extent. The aspect of Phialina 

 vermieularis, with its reflected anterior circlet of larger cilia only visible, has been 

 not inaptly compared with that of a minute Echinorhynchus. 



Doubtful Species. 



The Phialina viridis of Ehrenberg, PI. XXVII. Fig. 37, is suspected by Claparede 

 and Lachmann to be a coloured variety only of P. vermieularis ; according to 

 Ehrenberg's figures, however, the body also is differently proportioned, the posterior 



* 'Animalcula Infusoria,' p. 200, pi. xxviii. figs. 11-16, 1786. 



