HiLGENDOBF. — 0)1 Nexc Zealand Eotifera. 123 



IX. Diaschiza taiirocephalus, sp. nov. Plate X., figs, ix., ix.a., 

 ix.b., ix.c, ix.d. 



Specific characters : Small, but not so minute as D. 

 exigua. The lorica is firm, and apparently closed below. 

 The head is very large. Foot prominent ; toes about a 

 quarter the length of the body. The lorica slopes away 

 from its upper posterior edge to about the middle of the 

 ventral line. 



No colour, except for the small red globular cervical eye. 

 In some, too, deep rich-brown cells are found surrounding the 

 stomach. This Eotifer is of a short stout build, which is very 

 characteristic. The body is hardly longer than it is high, and 

 the lorica ends abruptly, giving a peculiar hump-backed 

 appearance. The proxnnal part of the foot is very stout, and 

 is terminated by two long toes. The foot and toes are carried 

 more or less pendent, usually markedly so. The head is, but 

 for the absence of sharp corners, almost an exact square, and 

 is more than half the size of the body ; it is marked off from 

 the body by a shallow furrow. The cilia, which are rather 

 short and thick-set, fringe the lower half of the front and the 

 forward half of the bottom of the head. The lorica starts 

 behind the head, and has a well-marked deep dorsal cleft ; it 

 is deepest and broadest behind, sloping upwards to non- 

 existence in front. The mastax is of the forcipate type, and 

 is fairly large and strong ; it is surrounded by a dense and 

 strong pad of muscle. The stomach and intestine are large, 

 and situated dorsally. As mentioned above, the stomach is 

 sometimes surrounded by large unicellular glands, probably 

 digestive. The food in the stomach is often of a light- 

 yellow colour ; I have never seen the green or brown food- 

 matter so commonly found. A few indistinct foot-muscles 

 and the dense mass of muscles surrounding the mastax are all 

 that are easily observed. The foot-glands are apparently 

 large, but are indistinct, and evidently but little used, as I do 

 not remember one of the scores of specimens I observed 

 anchoring itself by its toes. The presumably digestive glands 

 have already been twice mentioned ; they are similar to those 

 found in Metojndia flexocaudatus, but are not invariably 

 present. The eye is of small size ; it is situated near the 

 dorsal surface, just at the junction of neck and body. There 

 is a nick in its median anterior edge. No brain was observed. 

 There is a large reproductive organ in the ventral part of the 

 body. 



This Eotifer is of very lively habits. It swims mostly on 

 its side at a great rate across the stage. It is the most 

 plentiful of all Eotifers at the Taieri Beach, and was found in 

 every pool searched. 



