Nov. 1, 1SC6.] 



HAllDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



to be met with ; but it may be safely put up in 

 glycerine jelly (if done so as soon as it is gathered), 

 though this renders the subject rather transparent. 

 On first finding it I immediately mounted six 

 dozen slides, and had the mortification of losing 

 about five dozen, the fans having broken away from 

 the stalks, caused, I imagine, from the diatom still 

 growing, though inclosed. The specimens which 

 remained perfect were clearly those which had 

 attained their maximum growth, and had the endo- 

 chromc divided into spots, and not over the entire 

 frond, as in young growths. Some of these are now 

 in my cabinet as perfect as when put up three years 

 ago — in fact, the photographs sent are from one. I 

 have, however, adopted a plan (suggested by the 

 same friend who directed me to its neighbourhood) 

 for mounting the slides or keeping a stock of the 

 " raw material." It consists of well washing each 

 tuft (as soon after it is gathered as possible), and 

 then plunging it into water just on the boil for 

 about half a minute, which kills the diatom ; it can 

 then be kept as stock or mounted at once. I gene- 

 rally use § spirits to f water for mounting, which 

 does not render it so transparent as the jelly. 



H. E. Ledger. 



THE CROWN ANIMALCULE. 



{Stephanoceros Eiehornii. ) 



/HkF all the strange and beautiful forms which the 

 ^^ Rotifers assume, none can surpass the Crown 

 Animalcule. It is the great object which all young 

 students of microscopic life eagerly pursue, and are 

 often for years pursuing in vain. I lately inquired 

 of an excursion party, which was wending its way 

 to Totteridge Ponds, what they hoped to find there, 

 and the reply was " Stephanoceros." On another 

 occasion, the route being in a different direction, I 

 ventured a similar question, and lo ! I obtained the 

 same reply. Riding with a party of microscopists 

 in a railway carriage, the subject under discussion 

 was the same — " where to find the Stephanoceros" 

 One recommended High gate, another the Serpentine, 

 another the Regent's Canal. It will sometimes be 

 found adhering to plants of Myriophyllum, and at 

 others to the rootlets of willows which have pushed 

 themselves through the bank into the stream ; but 

 certainly the same locality is not always equally 

 productive, and probably any spot cannot be relied 

 upon for more than a year or two. 



Our concern, however, is now more particularly 

 with the Rotifer itself, than with its homes and 

 haunts. The figure given will illustrate its external 

 appearance ; and a few observations may lead the 

 reader to seek fuller and more complete information 

 in the chapter on this subject contributed to the 

 Popular Science Review (vol. L, No. 1, p. 26) by 

 Mr. P. H. Gosse, a most excellent authority on this 

 and other Rotifers. 



The genus to which this animalcule belongs, and 

 that of Floscularia, already illustrated (Science 

 Gossip, vol. II., No. 18, p. 132), constitute a 

 family of Rotatoria by themselves, which have been 

 called "Flower animalcules." The present genus 

 contains only one thoroughly recognized species, 

 which attains one-sixteenth of an inch in length, and 



Fig. 242. The Crown Animalcule {Stephanoceros Eiehornii). 



may therefore be seen by the naked eye. The five 

 arms which constitute the crown are long, slender, 

 and curved inwards, their surface being clad with 

 whorls of elongated setae. Beneath the crown is a 

 kind of broad head, attached by a neck or collar to 

 the irregular cylindrical body. The lower portion 

 of the body is attenuated into a slender foot, by 

 means of which the animal is permanently attached 

 to its supporter, which latter is generally the stem 

 of some aquatic plant. A gelatinous envelope in- 

 closes the body, as in a transparent case, which 

 reache* ^upwards to the neck and downwards to the 



