ON THE ANIMALCUL.E OCCURRING IN A DROP OF WATER. 



3;) 



cilia, set on five or six projecting lobes, spread in the most elegant manner. 

 It usually has a transparent tubular case attached to the plant on which it 

 is fixed, but in this case it was not seen. We now come to the more complex 

 Rotifijrs- and I will first call your attention to the family Euclilanidota, two 

 genera belonging to which were observed: first, Salpina mucronata. This 

 creature is provided with a transparent case, within which it is able to draw 

 itself at pleasure. Like all this family it is very voracious, and its teeth 

 may be seen constantly in the act of grinding up its food. It is very active. 



Mdopid'm lepadella was also present, 

 and in habits much resembles the 

 Salpince. The last family observed 

 was Philodincea, which embraces the 

 true Wheel Animalculse. They are 

 all very extraordinary creatures: the 

 body may be divided into a head and 



tail, and a central portions, into which the two former may be more or less 

 drawn, much as the portions of a telescope slide one within the other. The 



only individual of this family present was the Rotifer vulgaris, or common 

 Wheel Animalcule. The currents of water, set in motion by means of what 

 are called the wheels, are wonderfully extensive, and are easily visible by the 

 microscope. The teeth and digestive canal of this Animalcule are readily 

 seen. Eyes are also present; and even blood vessels have been observed. I 

 may here mention, that in addition to these Infusoria, a single individual was 

 present belonging to an altogether difierent order, namely, the Crustacea. It 

 turned out to be the young of Cyclops quadricornis, referrible to the Enfovws- 

 tracan division of the Crustacea, The difference between the young and adult 

 Cyclops is so great, that no one, unacquainted with the strange changes these 

 creatures undergo, would recognise them as ha\nng the same origin; the only 

 common point of similarity being their each possessing only one eye. 



As I propose, on some future occasion, offering some remarks on tlie 

 Entomostnica of this district, I will leave what may be said on these most 

 interesting creatures to that time. I have now shortly touched on the living 

 creatures observed, on a single occasion, in one drop of water, amounting in 

 the Polygastrica, as I before stated, to fourteen species, representing twelve 



