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HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



one side and at the end with cilia ; but when in 

 active vibration, and twirling the animalcule onward 

 in a spiral manner, the greater part of this ciliated 

 process becomes curved like a sickle." The above 

 describes some specimens that I looked at, though 

 the form varied greatly in different specimens— in 

 fact, the same creature at different moments some- 

 times presented changed appearances. Since Pritchard 

 wrote his description, this animalcule has been found 

 in various parts of this country— ,?.£-. in Essex, 

 Berkshire, Somersetshire, and Yorkshire, inhabiting 

 a deserted limnias tube, duckweed, water-crowfoot, 

 and chard respectively (my specimens favoured the 

 vicinity of the terminal buds). Mr. M. C. Cooke 

 says it is probably not uncommon. Lieberkuhn 

 asserts that he has often found them swimming 

 freely in the water. Unquestionably they can exist 

 in a motile form ; for, when violently agitated, some 

 were detached from the chard, and swam easily, their 

 path forming a left-handed spiral. But under normal 

 conditions they were all stationary. Reproduction 

 probably takes place in several ways. On one 

 occasion the appearance was that the creature 

 detached itself, and, after shortening its body, ejected 

 a round embryo from its posterior end. — Er?iest 

 Hanwell. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The Loves of the Rotifera. — In Dr. Hudson's 

 admirable Anniversary Address to the Royal Micro- 

 scopical Society, there occurs the following humorous 

 incident :— " Mr. W. Dingwall, of Dundee, was on 

 one occasion watching a male floxule circling giddily 

 round a female, and constantly annoying her by 

 swimming into her fully-expanded coronal cup. 

 Again and again she darted back into her tube, only 

 to find her troublesome wooer blocking up her cup, 

 and sadly interfering with what to a floxule is the 

 very serious business of eating — for these animals 

 will often eat more than their own bulk in a few 

 hours. It was clear at last that the lady would not 

 tolerate this persistent interference with her dinner ; 

 for when, after waiting rather a longer time than 

 usual closed up in her tube, she once more expanded, 

 only to find him once more in his old position, she 

 lost all patience, and effectually put an end to his 

 absurdities by giving one monstrous gulp and swal- 

 lowing her lover. It will not surprise you to hear 

 that he did not agree with her, and that after a short 

 time she gave up all hope of digesting her mate, and 

 shot him out into the open again, along with the 

 entire contents of her crop. He fell a shapeless, 

 motionless lump ; the two score and ten minutes' 

 love of a male Rotifer's life cut short to five ; but 

 strange to say, in a second or two, first one or two 

 cilia gave a flicker, then a dozen ; then its body 

 began to unwrinkle and to plump up ; and at last 



the whole corona gave a gay whirl, and the male 

 shot off as vigorous as ever, but no doubt thoroughly 

 cured of its first attachment. 



The American Mollusca. — Although the North 

 American shells have been so carefully studied for 

 many years, new species are still turning up. Mr. 

 W. G. Binney sent me recently a fine new Zo7iites or 

 Hyalina, found in North Carolina. This species, 

 which I shall call Z. Carolinenses, is allied to Z. 

 sculptilio, but differs in its fewer whorls, its straighter 

 columellar margin, its fewer sculptured lines, and its 

 less lunar aperture. Fig. 231 in Binney's "Man. 

 Am. Land Shells " is Carolinensis, and not sculptilis, 

 as there stated. Another interesting new species is 

 Prophysaon cccruleum, from Olympia, Washington ; 

 a slug with the body and mantle clear blue-grey, the 

 sides paler, and the sole white. The reticulations are 

 simpler than in any other species of its genus. The 

 " Ar/on" foliohitus of Gould has been rediscovered 

 by Mr. Hemphill (who also found P. cccruleum), and 

 proves to belong to a new subgenus of Prophysaon, 

 called Phenacarion. To those conchologists whose 

 interests are not limited by the shores of the British 

 Isles, North American shells offer a wide field for in- 

 teresting research, with the advantage of excellent 

 works on the subject in the English tongue. One 

 already notes with pleasure how much correspondence 

 there is between English and American conchologists, 

 and for not a little of this we have to thank our old 

 friend Science-Gossip. — T. D. A. Cockerel!. 



Birds' Egg Curiosities. — With reference to the 

 article on "Birds' Egg Curiosities," in the January 

 number, it may be of interest to some of your readers 



} in. 



Fig. 72. — Egg of Gallus. z\ in. long. 



to know that I have in my collection the egg of a 

 domestic fowl, Gallus gallus, Lin., erroneously often 

 named G. bankhiva, Temon — of what variety I do 

 not know, measuring two and a quarter inches long 

 by three-quarters at the thick end and five-eighths at 

 the thin end. It was the hen's last egg, and was, I 

 think, laid in 1886 or 1S87. I blew it myself, and it 

 was remarkable from its having hardly any yolk, and 

 what it had being very light-coloured. I should like 

 to know if such eggs are common, as I don't remember 

 to have seen such a one before. The colour is a 

 dull creamy yellow with a tinge of brown. Enclosing 

 a rough life-size sketch of the egg. — "Egg." 



