FLOSCULARIA. 



[ 268 ] 



FORAMINIFERA. 



FLOSCULARIA, Oken, Ehr.— A genus 

 of Rotatoria, of the family Floscularisea. 



Char. Attached ; eyes two, red ; carapaces 

 single; rotatory organ divided into more 

 than four lobes, with elongated cilia radia- 

 ting from their extremities. 



Eyes sometimes absent in the adidt ani- 

 mals. Sheath or carapace frequently so 

 transparent as to be scarcely distinguishable. 

 Rotatory organ with five or six lobes. The 

 number, however, appears variable, for 

 Ehrenberg, in regard to the genus, states in 

 one place that the lobes are five or six, in 

 another, that they are always six. The so- 

 called proboscis is probably only one of the 

 lobes of the rotatory organs. 



F. ornata, E, (PI. 34, fig. 32). Carapace 

 hyaline ; rotatory lobes six (Ehr,), five (Duj.), 

 with long cilia, but no central proboscis ; 

 aquatic; length 1-108". 



Lobes of rotatory organ thickened at the 

 ends. 



F. proboscidea, E. Carapace hyaline ; 

 rotatory organ six-lobed, with short cilia 

 surrounding a central proboscis ; aquatic ; 

 length, when extended, 1-18". Teeth (fig. 

 33). 



F. campanulata. Dob. Differs from F. 

 ornata, Ehr. in having five lobes, and these 

 flattened; aquatic; length 1-50" when ex- 

 tended. 



F. coruuta, Dob. Rotatory organ five- 

 lobed, one of the lobes with a narrowed, not 

 ciliated cornu attached, arising from its out- 

 side ; cilia long ; aquatic ; length, when ex- 

 tended, 1-40". 



The last tw^o species must be regarded as 

 very doubtfully distinct. 



These exquisitely beautiful animals are 

 found adhering to aquatic plants, as Con- 

 fervae, CeratojjhyUum, ^-c. 



BiBL. Ehr. Itifus. 407 ; Duj. Infus. 609; 

 Dobie, Jnn. Nat. Hist. 1849. iv. p. 233. 



FLOSCULARI.EA.— A family of Infu- 

 soria. 



CJiar. Furnished with a carapace or sheath; 

 rotatory organ single, with a flexuous, lobed 

 or divided margin. 



The cilia are often long, and only vibrate 

 occasional!}', mostly remaining rigidly ex- 

 tended. 



Genera. 



Eyes absent 1 . Tubicolaria. 



Eye single 2, Stephanoceros. 



f 2-Iobed / *'"^'® • •  • ^- ^'■'""'«*- 

 Eyes f Rotatory J I aggregate. . 4. Lacmultirm. 



two t organ ] 4-lobed 5. 3Ielicertn. 



^ 5- or 6- lobed 6. Flosculnriu. 



The eyes in some of the genera {Stepha- 



noceros and Floscularia) disappear in the 

 adult state, so that they must be looked for 

 in the young, or even in the partly hatched 

 ova, in which they may often be distinctly 

 seen. 



BiBL. Ehrenberg, Infus. p. 398. 



FLUSTRA, Linn. (Sea-mat). A genus of 

 Poly])i, of the order Bryozoa, and family 

 Escharidae. 



Char. Polypidom plant-like, membranous, 

 foliaceous or crustaceous ; cells in contact, 

 alternate, in several rows, and on one or 

 both sides of the polypidom; aperture trans- 

 verse, semicircular or lunate, valvular and 

 subterminal. Marine, 



Ten British species. 



* Foliaceous, attached by the base; with 

 cells on both sides. 



F. foliacea. Cells narrow at the base, 

 rounded at the end, with scattered marginal 

 spines. Common. 



Polypidom lobed, and about 4" high. 



F. chartacea. Cells oblong, slightly 

 broader in the middle ; lateral margins with 

 a single minute spine. 



About 1" in height. 



F. truncata. Cells linear-oblong, truncate 

 at the end, margins without spines. 



Four or five inches high. 



** Foliaceous, with cells on one side only. 



F. carbasea (PI. 33. figs. 19, 20). Cells 

 oblong, narrowed and truncate at the base, 

 margin without spines. 



About 2" in height. 



F. avicularis. Cells in four or five rows, 

 oblong, their margins with two spines on 

 each side near the aperture. 



About 1'' in height. 



*** Crustaceous. 



F. membranacea. Cells oblona:, with a 

 tubercle on each side at the end. Common, 

 forming an incrustation u])on Fuci, &c. 



Some species of Flustra form good ex- 

 amples for the examination of the bird's-head 

 processes (PI. 33. fig. 26), which occur upon 

 the margins of the lobes of the polypidom. 



BiBL. Johnston, Brit. Zoophyt. 342 ; 

 Reid, Ann. Nat. Hist. 1845, xvi. 385. 



FLY. See Musca. 



FONTINALIS, L.— A genus of Mosses. 

 See Neckera. 



FORAMINIFERA or POLYTHA- 

 LAMIA. — The organisms comprised under 

 this title are so imperfectly known, that 



