F. A. PARSONS ON A NEW HYDIIOID POLYP. 129 



the position of the rotifer I should think that it had probably 

 collided head first with the polyp and had been instantly paralysed. 

 The head of the polyp was bent over nearly at a right angle to its 

 body, but was jDresently moved round to its normal position, 

 the rotifer being taken with it ; by this time the head of the latter 

 had disappeared, and the rotifer was motionless, the gizzard only 

 working slowly. The polyp continued to swallow its unfortunate 

 prey, but the operation was so slow that I could not detect the 

 motion, and it was only by mentally comparing the relative positions 

 from time to time that I could tell what was going on. Eventually 

 the rotifer disappeared from view, but its position in its downward 

 course within the polyp could readily be discerned by the corpulence 

 of the latter at the spot to which the rotifer had arrived. 



I afterwards witnessed a still more extraordinary display of the 

 polyp's capacity fur swallowing comparatively large objects. In 

 this instance one member of a twin arrangement was discovered 

 in the act of swallowing a little chydorus sphcericus, which was quite 

 double the diameter of the glutton to which it was the victim. 

 When I first observed it the chydorus was already about two- 

 thirds of its diameter within the body of the polyp, whose mouth 

 was fearfully distended, and I doubted whether it would succeed 

 in the task it had undertaken ; however, presently it accomplished 

 the feat, but by converting itself into a bloated deformity. 



Although I have had this creature under observation for a \o\\o- 

 time, I have seen no indications of any reproductive process other 

 than that already described ; but I think it is probable that if search 

 were to be made shortly before the jieriod at which the limnocodiam 

 usually appears, evidence might be obtained which would show 

 whether or no this polyp has the relation to limnocodium which it 

 has been supposed to have. I would mention here, as having some 

 possible bearing on this point, that a change does appear to take 

 place in the structure of the animal ; in the earlier stages the body 

 seems to consist of granular sarcode, in general appearance similar 

 to that of the common hydra, but in later stages there is a decided 

 cellular appearance, the cells being comparatively large and the 

 polyp more nearly transparent. 



The polyps seem extremely hardy, for though taken from a tank 

 kept at a temperature of 90° or more, they lived and flourished 

 with me in a room at the ordinary indoor temperature; all they 

 seemed to require being plenty of food. Whether keeping them at so 



