230 Transactions of the Society. 



them streams or small rivers in Alexandra county, and more or less 

 rich in rotiferal life according to the season. 



Eound about Maritzburg the haunts of these little creatures are 

 ponds, marshy places, and the edges of the river Umsindusi. 



Many rotifers, more or less rare in England according to Messrs. 

 Hudson and Gosse, are more or less common here, and vice versa. 



Judging from my own experience, the commonest rotifers here 

 are Brachionus militaris and one of the Philodinx, apparently P. 

 erythrophthalma. Scaridium eudactylotum I have taken from rather 

 widely different habitats, but in every instance it has been from cool 

 water and shaded by grass. The names of others more or less rare 

 will be seen in the appended list. 



The only books that I have on the subject, of any authority, are 

 The Rotifera, by Hudson and Gosse, 1889, with Supplement, and the 

 second volume of the Cambridge Natural History, 1896. 



The Microscope that I have was bought in 1896, and is simply 

 one of Chas. Baker's "advanced student's" instruments, which I 

 am able to carry to Maritzburg with me, and is fitted with Baker's 

 li-in. objective and Zeiss achromatics A and C, with compensating 

 Huyghenian eye-piece 3, and apochromatics 8*0 mm. and 4 - mm., 

 with eye-pieces 8, 12, and 18, also his condenser and camera lucida, 

 &c, suitable for the same. 



On page 97, vol. i., Hudson and Gosse make the statement that 

 " All the Kotifera seem to possess the power of secreting a viscous 

 fluid, which they put to various uses. The Rhizota form their cases 

 of it ; the Ploima and Scirtopoda draw it out in long threads from 

 spots to which they have adhered, and thus moor themselves to 

 external bodies ; while the Bdelloida, by coating themselves all over 

 with it, not only resist the extremities of heat and drought, but set 

 at defiance old Time himself." It is not enough to say this, as it does 

 not give the whole facts of the case. 



So far as I have seen, no rotifer that has a foot or toes moves in 

 its natural and unalarmed state without spinning this thread as it 

 moves, lengthening it as required, whether swimming or crawling 

 over algaB, weeds, &c, or glass. There is always one thread from 

 each toe. It is difficult to see in some species, because of their 

 peculiar motions, as in Synchseta pectinata and Actinurus Neptunius, 

 but easy to see in such as use it as a cable by which to moor them- 

 selves, while rotating at ^the end of it, like Brachionus militaris, 

 Synchseta tremula, and another that I have mentioned further on. 



The Pterodinadoe also spin this thread as they move, fastening 

 it at the start after the manner of a spider, and lengthening it as 

 required. Copeus Ehrenbergii always binds its eggs with it on to 

 threads of Spirogyra, preferring the liner species. Scaridium longi- 

 caudum and Scaridium eudactylotum in all their graceful movements 

 spin this thread. 



In the case of the Bdelloida, the thread can ^nearly always be 



