i8o 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



of " Stephanops lamellar is f^'' recorded by Mr. Gosse as 

 found in a garden tub ; but the definition just pre- 

 vented this, it being '* lorica prolonged into three sub- 

 parallel slender acute spines ; foot furnished with a 

 toe-like spine" (see Fig. 119, 2) ; the lorica in the 

 species under consideration being as in Fig. 119, 3. 

 In .5, muticus, the lorica ends in an unarmed, spoon- 



was occasionally difficult to see the end of the lorica 

 at all. 



These rotifers are small in size, about -^ inch. 

 They are interesting, on account of the front projec- 

 tion of the lorica giving an appearance of the nimbus, 

 round the heads of saints in pictures. 



This stephanops sails wildly about at first, but sooq 



Fig. 120. — CEcistes umbella. 



like shield, foot without a spine. The present species 

 having characters between these, I have called it 

 " intermedins," but I think they should be all joined. 

 Mr. Gosse, indeed, says that he thinks S. lamellaris 

 and S. muticus are but one species, he having seen the 

 spines of lamellaris disappear under his eyes in a 

 way he could not account for. I had a number 

 under observation, but there was never any variation 

 in the spines j but, being of glassy transparency, it 



goes much more slowly. She (rotifers, like ships, 

 are "she's," though called Hector, maybe) never 

 rolls over, being kept on an even keel by the flat 

 front ; then the foot is used as a rudder, as if the 

 order " Port ! " were given. The foot goes on one 

 side, and the head turns. But stop ! there is a grain 

 of sand, a rock ahead. Starboard there ! The foot 

 turns to the other side ; the head, obedient, veers 

 round, and the danger is past. 



