Canavan. — On Eels. 193 



canal ; and in this matrix eleven small eels that had life 

 enough to move about, although the mother was dead some 

 hours. They had not yet arrived at maturity. The dorsal fin 

 was visible, and so were the head and other parts, all of which 

 appeared to be beneath a thin film. The head, one would say, 

 was not perfect, although the shape was distinguishable. In 

 January, 1892, I caught two of these female eels. The time 

 was later in the month than when I caught the one the year 

 previous, and the young ones were more perfect. These 

 females were dead long before the other eels showed any 

 distress from want of their native element. 



What I have discovered I arrange as follows : First, that 

 eels are night fish — i.e., that they travel and feed at night. 

 Second, that they go to the tidal waters (when practicable) to 

 deposit their young. Third, that they bring forth their young 

 alive in the tidal waters. Fourth, that they go up the rivers 

 again, and so do their young ones. 



Since I wrote the foregoing I have had a conversation with 

 Mr. Henry Eedwood, of Spring Creek, a good and keen 

 observer of nature. He said that he had frequently observed 

 the matrix that I have described, and found in it the young 

 eels as I found them. 



Art. XXIII. — On a New Zealand Variety of Floscularia 



coronetta, Cubitt. 



By Archdeacon Stock, B.A. 



Communicated by W. M. Maskell. 



Plate X. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 3rd August, 1892.] 



The animalcule known as Floscularia coronetta is rare in Eng- 

 land. It is worth recording that a Floscularia almost identical 

 with the English form was found by me in water at the back 

 of the Hutt Parsonage. The drawing (Plate X.) accurately 

 represents the New Zealand form. The only differences be- 

 tween this and the English rotiferon is that the arms in my 

 specimens are longer than those in Hudson's and Gosse's 

 drawings, and the knob at the end of the arms is not circular, 

 as in their drawings, but oval. The animal is rare here, as 

 well as in England. 



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