828 ORDER TENTACULIFERA-SUCTORIA. 



GENUS VIII. SOLENOPHRYA, C. & L. 



Animalcules solitary, more or less ovate, secreting a membranous 

 investing sheath or lorica, which is attached in a sessile manner and without 

 the intermedium of a pedicle to the chosen object of support ; tentacles 

 suctorial, capitate, distributed in distinct fascicles. 



The representatives of this genus may be said to occupy, with relation to Acineta, 

 the same position that is held by the similarly sessile but illoricate type Trichophrya, 

 with reference to the pedicellate genus Podophrya. A single species only has been 

 so far recorded. 



Solenophrya erassa, C. & L. PL. XLVI. FIG. 52. 



Lorica oval, depressed, resembling a shallow basin ; body nearly filling 

 the same, not adherent to it laterally ; tentacles forming four distinct 

 fascicles ; contractile vesicles multiple ; endoplast indistinct. Diameter of 

 lorica 1-150". 



HAB. Pond water, on the roots of Lemna minor : Zoological Gardens, 

 Berlin (C. & L.). 



GENUS XI. ACINETA, Ehr. 



Animalcules solitary, ovate or elongate, secreting a protective lorica, to 

 the sides of which they are adherent or within which they may remain 

 freely suspended; the lorica supported upon a rigid, more or less exten- 

 sively developed pedicle ; tentacles suctorial, capitate, variously distributed. 

 Inhabiting salt and fresh water. 



The transparent membranous sheaths or loricae, that distinguish the members of 

 the genus Acineta from those of Podophrya, are held by the author to be homolo- 

 gous with the protective structures bearing the same title that characterize the several 

 generic types Cothurnia, Vaginicola, Frria, Bicostzca, Salpingoeca, and others pre- 

 viously described. While this view of their homology is fully sustained by Maupas,* a 

 contrary opinion is advocated by Hertwig, Fraipont, and some few other authorities, 

 who propose to identify this protective element with an ordinary cuticular invest- 

 ment. That its true character is that of a lifeless excretion, such as a shell or 

 lorica, is, however, amply demonstrated by the fact that it never takes part in the 

 subdivision of the body as invariably happens in the case of a living cuticular 

 investment. 



As in the genus Podophrya, the numerous species may, as an aid to their 

 identification, be conveniently divided into two groups, in accordance with the 

 fasciculate or irregular disposition of their tentacular appendages. 



A. TENTACLES FASCICULATE. 

 Acineta livadiana, Meresch. PL. XLVIII. FIG. 12. 



Lorica transparent, evenly ovate or urceolate, with its anterior border 

 truncate, nearly twice as long as broad ; pedicle slender, straight or 

 flexuose, its height usually corresponding with that of the lorica ; animal- 



*" Contribution a 1'Etude des Acinetiens," 'Archives de Zoologie Experimentale," torn, ix., 

 1881. 



