10 Transactions of the Society. 



Diaschiza gracilis Ehrenberg. 

 PL I. figs. 4 and 4o. 



Synonymy. 

 Furcularia gracilis Ehrenberg. 

 Furcularia gracilis Gosse. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Ehrenberg, C. G. — Die Infusionsthierchen. Leipzig, 1838, p. 421, pi. 48, 



fig. 6. 

 Hudson & Gosse. — The Kotifera. London, 1889, vol. ii. p. 42, pi. 19, fig. 14. 



Spec. Char. — Body slender, laterally compressed ; head round 

 in front ; neck a very slight constriction ; face sub-prone ; corona 

 extending very little down ventral surface of head ; lorica flexible ; 

 dorsal cleft distinct ; lateral cleft distinct, widening posteriorly ; 

 ■eye frontal, normal in shape and pigmentation ; foot ample, stout, 

 rather short ; toes about £ length of rest of body, almost straight, 

 furcate, style-shaped. 



Gosse' s description is on the whole accurate ; but we are 

 certain that the jaws never protrude. 



This misconception has been already explained in the treat- 

 ment of the genus. "We might, however, add that the fleshy 

 projection over the foot is present to a small degree though nothing 

 like so marked as in D. sterea. 



The short, sharp, furcate toes are usually carried straight 

 behind and rarely approach the back. A lateral view shows that 

 in each toe the ventral edge is slightly recurved, the dorsal almost 

 straight. 



The eye is frontal and consists of a simple sphere of red 

 pigment. 



The jaws have the incus thin and ending in a fine point. The 

 mallei are also long and thin and not crutched. 



These two latter points, together with the flexible and graceful 

 body, serve to distinguish it readily from D. sterea. 



The food of this species is flocculent matter. 



Size. — Total length t }q in. (150 fju) ; toes alone $\q in. (27 fi) ; 

 breadth r ^ (36 fi) ; height g £ 5 in. (40 /j). 



Common everywhere. 



The male, PL I. fig. 4a.— Early in July 1902, Mr. C. F. 

 Eousselet sent a small quantity of moss which contained hundreds 

 of females and a large quantity of males, from which fig. 4a was 

 made. 



It is a very hyaline, soft, restless male, contorting itself into a 

 variety of form which it is impossible to represent in one drawing. 

 The drawing has been made from an average form not so fully 



