The Genus Synchccta. By C. F. Rousselet. 395 



Synchseta kitina sp. n. 



PI. IV. fig. 6. 



Spec. Char. — Body very small, cup-shaped, truncate anteriorly, 

 much contracted posteriorly, head flat or slightly rounded in front, 

 foot short and tapering, carrying two small conical toes. Eye 

 cervical, red, appearing double, imbedded in semi-opaque granules. 

 Size, up to 136 /u, ( r |- in.) in length by 102 /a (^q in.) wide. 

 Lacustrine. 



In a tube of some water from the reservoirs supplying Dundee 

 with water, containing Notholca longispina and other rotifers, which 

 Mr. John Hood sent me in July 1898, I found a very small Syn- 

 chseta which proved to be new and to which I have given this name 

 in honour of an enthusiastic friend greatly interested in these 

 minute sparks of life. After having had his attention called to it, 

 Mr. Hood was able to send it me again several times, but it has so 

 far not been obtained in any other locality than the neighbourhood 

 of Dundee, where it makes its appearance at the end of May and 

 usually remains until the beginning of September, associated with 

 Notholca longispina, Anurma cochlcaris, and Gastropus stylifer. Its 

 unusual shape, very small size, and mode of swimming at once 

 arrest the attention of anyone familiar with the commoner species 

 of Synchpeta, but being so small it requires a fairly high power for 

 observation and identification. 



The general shape of the body is that of a cup or wine-glass 

 with somewhat stout stem. The posterior cylindrical and con- 

 stricted part of the body widens again slightly and then terminates ; 

 the foot is short, broad at the base and tapering, carrying two small 

 toes at the end. The foot can be retracted within the body so that 

 only the toes protrude. The auricles are comparatively large, broad 

 and semicircular in shape, and are carried on a level with the front 

 of the head ; when contracting the auricles fold over the head. 

 The head is very broad and almost fiat in front. Two pairs of 

 tactile styles arise from the front, the larger outer pair from 

 fleshy triangular flaps and the inner pair from the dorsal edge as 

 usual. Four more groups of two or three shorter tactile hairs are 

 placed around the mouth. The vibratile cilia are confined to four 

 regions or patches on the frontal part of the head as usual, in addi- 

 tion to the long cilia on the auricles. The mouth is situated in 

 front near the centre of the head, but slightly ventral, surrounded 

 by the projecting circlet of very fine stiff hairs, part of which are 

 visible from a dorsal view. The eye is cervical, situated in the 

 usual position, and consists apparently of two dark red corpuscles, 

 closely apposed and imbedded in a small mass of semi-opaque 

 granules. The mastax is large, filling the anterior part of the body- 



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