IO 



HARD WICKE' S S CIENCE- G OS SIP. 



its tube and comes to an erect position with its corona 

 fully expanded. It then remains in that way (if not 

 disturbed) for nearly an hour, and then again retires 

 into its tube to finish the operation of depositing the 

 e gg- With some apparent exertion the creature lays 

 the egg well down into its transparent gelatinous tube 

 close to its long foot. The foot itself (Fig. 4/) is long 

 and flexible, and is capable of great expansion and 

 very swift contraction, for on the least alarm the 

 creature retreats into its tube with lightning speed. 

 A longitudinal muscle runs down the whole length of 

 the foot and is strengthened by numerous fine 

 muscular transverse rings from its junction with the 

 trunk to its extremity, where there is attached a short 

 non-contractile peduncle (Fig. 4 c) which terminates 

 in a disk which is fastened to a leaf of sphagnum, 

 or other aquatic plant, by a viscous fluid secreted by 

 a gland at the extremity of the foot for the purpose. 

 The respiratory or water vascular system in F. 

 anmdata is not easily traced, as its trunk is rendered 

 rather opaque by whitish granules that float in the 

 fluid between the outer and inner membranes. But 

 when the creature is kept for two days in clear water 

 without proper food, the creature is so starved that it 

 becomes very transparent, 'so that the details of the 

 internal organs can be traced with less difficulty. 

 The slender tortuous vessels can be observed leading 

 down to the contracting bladder, situated near the 

 junction of the foot with the trunk (Fig. 4 c b). The 

 F. annulata, like. all the other species of the same 

 genus, inhabits a transparent tube secreted by the 

 animal itself, which not only serves to protect the 

 creature'itself from its natural enemies, but also serves 

 as a protection for its eggs from the ravages of 

 aquatic worms and larvae, for although the material 

 of the tube is tough enough to resist the attacks of a 

 large number of worms and larvce, yet there are some, 

 especially of the larva; of the dragon-fly, with their 

 powerful mandibles, which cut through the tube and 

 devour both parent and eggs. The material of the 

 tube is so transparent that the observation of its 

 contents is comparatively easy. 



The F. anmdata deposits from three to six female 

 eggs in its tube, which take about five to six days to 

 hatch. Six or eight hours before the embryo bursts 

 its shell, two red eye-spots are very conspicuous ; 

 also a ciliary motion, and a twitching of the whole 

 contents of the egg, are observed. The twitching 

 becomes yet more vigorous, until at last the embryo 

 bursts through its shell and, propelled by a wreath of 

 delicate frontal vibratile cilia, it soon finds its way 

 out of its mother domicile, and swims rapidly round 

 its parent ; then strikes out with a graceful motion 

 through the water, poking amongst the weeds in 

 quest of a fitting place to start housekeeping on its 

 own account. 



It seems to be rather particular in selecting a site 

 to build its future residence. I have seen one alight 

 on the leaves and axil of a plant in a dozen places, 



before it made a final selection of a spot to fix its foot ; 

 and a few hours after the young floscule was encased 

 in a thin gelatinous tube, with its foot, trunk, and 

 corona (although smaller in size) developed in the 

 same form as its parent. 



I have not yet met with the male of F. annulata, 

 nor even the male of the other three-lobed species. 

 There are sixteen known species of the genus Flos- 

 cularia ; the males in eight of them only have yet 

 been found, leaving the males of eight species to be 

 discovered. 



The males of those that have not yet been found 

 are F. rcgalis, F. Mira, F. longicaudata, F. Algicola, 

 F. trdobata, F. Hoodii, F. annulata, F. edentata. 



The males of those species that have been discovered 

 are F. coronctta, F. ornata, F. cornuta, F. cydops, F. 

 catnpamdata, F. ambigua, F. calva, F. mutabdis. 



The whole sixteen species of the genus Floscularia 

 are inhabitants of fresh water, with the single ex- 

 ception of F. ornata, which is now known to inhabit 

 both fresh and salt water. I had the good fortune to 

 find the F. ornata very plentiful in tide pools at the 

 mouth of the Firth of Tay in the summers of 1885 

 and 1886. 



The length of full-grown specimens of F. anmdata 

 is from B ? T to 35 of an inch. 



John Hood, F.R.M.S. 



Dundee. 



FURTHER NOTES ON THE TOOTHWORT 

 {LATHRsEA SQUAMARIA). 



EACH year, since 1883, when I first found L. 

 squamaria in the locality indicated by G. E. 

 Smith, in his " Plants of South Kent," published in 

 1829, I have visited the place, and on each occasion 

 have found the plants all bearing the characters I 

 described in Science-Gossip, January, 1884. In 

 connection with my notes of that date, I would 

 remark that it has been thought that Smith's plant 

 was an old one, gone to seed, and that mine was a 

 young, imperfectly developed plant. The editor's 

 note, page 143, vol. xx. was in reference to specimens 

 I .sent him in full seed, and which were quite as 

 crowded as the plant photographed by me. I have 

 not yet found any plant in the least approaching that 

 described and figured by Smith. 



The plants I gathered in 1S83 were growing in a 

 section of the copse, which I will call for reference 

 No. 1, and which had remained undisturbed for, I 

 should say, from fifteen to eighteen years. There was 

 but little undergrowth; the hazels, &c, being well up. 

 In an adjoining section of the same copse (No. 2) of 

 about two years' growth, I, together with several 

 others, searched most assiduously for the plant, but 

 without success. During the winter of that year, 

 No. 1 section was cut down, and in 18S4 there were 



