QUARTERLY CHRONICLE. 171 



opens directly into a thick-walled intestine, the inner layer 

 of which is brownish. The intestine is more simple than 

 in the Rotatoria generally ; it extends in a straight line from 

 the mouth to the anus, and its narrowed anterior part scarcely 

 merits the name of oesophagus. No glands were observed in 

 connection with the stomach. When the animal is extended 

 the curved mallei project externally. All the individuals 

 observed were females. The ovary occupies the ventral por- 

 tion of the body; beneath the intestine, the mature ovules are 

 ovoid, and occupy the posterior extremity of the body. M. 

 Claparede characterises his genus Balatro as follows •. — Body 

 vermiform, very contractile ; posterior extremity terminated 

 by two lobes — one ventral, of a semilunar form, transverse ; 

 the other dorsal, nearly cylindrical, acting as a foot. Mallei 

 in the form of crooks. No vibratile organs ; no eyes. Besides 

 Apsilus and Balatro, Taphrocampa of Gosse is a genus of 

 Rotatoria destitute of vibratile cilia. Mr. Gosse placed it 

 originally near Notommata and Furcularia, but has since 

 removed it to the neighbourhood of Choetonotus, among the 

 Gastrotricha. In this M. Claparede thinks he is wrong, as 

 Taphi'ocampa possesses a mastax, the structure of which is 

 very near to that of the Furcularise and Monocercse. M. 

 Dujardin also describes his genus Lindia as destitute of cilia; 

 and M. Claparede regards it as nearly allied to his Balatro, 

 which is still more closely related to Albertia. 



" On the Mode in which certain Rotatoria introduce Food 

 into their Mouths," by E. Claparede — In the Zygotricha of 

 Ehrenberg the vibratile apparatus may be regarded as double. 

 The movement of the cilia is always in the same direction, 

 namely, opposite to that of the hands of a watch ; hence it is 

 dhected towards the mouth in the right wheel, and from it in 

 the left one. But observation proves that food passes to the 

 mouth both from right and left, which is incompatible with 

 the received notion that the currents conveying the food are 

 produced by the vibratile apparatus. The examination of 

 such Rotatoria as the Melicerta? and Lacinulariae leads to 

 the same result. In Melicerta ringens, on the lower surface 

 of the membranous vibratile organ and parallel to its margin, 

 M. Claparede finds a sort of crest, between which and the 

 margin there is a deep furrow. The extreme margin bears 

 the well-known large cilia; the crest also bears cilia, but 

 these are long and delicate, and their movement is opposite 

 in the two halves of the apparatus. By their means foreign 

 bodies which get into the channel between the two ciliated 

 crests are pushed gently along and conveyed to the mouth, 

 being retained in their position by the inferior range of cilia. 



VOL. VIII. — NEW SER. O 



