574 Transactions of the Society. 



from Stewart Island in the extreme south to Auckland in the 

 north. 



Very little work was done on ponds or other waters, as the 

 main object was the study of moss-faunas. From the extent of 

 the work done, we should be able to form some estimate of the 

 general characters of the moss-fauna of New Zealand, especially 

 of the Bdelloid Eotifera. 



Although I was only looking for the Bdelloids among the 

 Rotifera, it seems a pity not to record the species of the other 

 orders casually observed, as many of them were not previously 

 noted for New Zealand. Many Ploima and Ehizota were observed, 

 but I could only venture to name a few. 



For descriptions of the unfamiliar genera of Bdelloids men- 

 tioned in this paper, Bryce's recent work on A New Classification 

 of the Bdelloid Eotifera, 1910 (#),* should be consulted. 



Historical Sketch. — Very little appears to have been done at 

 New Zealand Eotifera before Hilgendorf. The following notes 

 contain all I have been able to find on the subject. Unfor- 

 tunately Hutton (5), while giving in 1904 a list of forty-two 

 Eotifera (compiled, I understand, by Hilgendorf), gives no biblio- 

 graphy of the sources of the records, so we have not the advantage 

 this would have given in tracing the previous history. 



Schmarda, in 1859 (10), notes three species in New Zealand, 

 one of them a Bdelloid, Philodina megalotrocha. 



Stock, in 1893 (11), records a Ehizotan. 



Hilgendorf, in 1898 (3), notes sixteen species, two of them 

 Bdelloids, one a new species, Callidina quadridens. 



Hilgendorf, in 1903 (If), gives an extended list of four Bdel- 

 loids, one of them a new species, Philodina cloacata. 



Hutton, 1904 (o), gives nine Bdelloids. 



Eichters, 1908, mentions Callidinw in various localities 

 in the North Island, but he does not identify any of the 

 species (8). 



Hilgendorf mentions another record of a Ehizotan, in Trans. 

 New Zealand Inst., xii. p. 301, which I have not seen. 



In these various papers there are recorded ten Bdelloids, nine 

 of which we did not see. They are : Philodina erythrophthalma, 

 roseola, megalotrocha, microps, cloacata; Callidina bihamata, quadri- 

 dens, venusta ; Rotifer macrourus. 



R. vulgaris is the only previously recorded species which we 

 observed. 



The figures in brackets refer to the Bibliography at the end of paper. 



