374 



and he was sure would give their thanks to Mr. Earland for 

 giving them the fruits of his investigations. 



Mr. W. Wesche read a paper on " Male Kotifers." 



Mr. Rousselet said it was satisfactory to know that during the 

 last few years many of the male rotifers had been discovered, and 

 were being described and figured, so that they could be identified 

 more readily in future. They were generally much smaller, and 

 not much like the females, and had consequently been much 

 overlooked. One of those described in the paper, however, was 

 curious as being a male of which no female form was known. 



Mr. Bryce said that every writer on the subject had placed 

 on record a statement that no males were known amongst the 

 Bdelloid Rotifera. Workers among the Rotifera were so far at 

 a disadvantage that they were unable to refer to fossil records 

 for testimony as to the past history of the group, and each 

 observer had to draw his own conclusions from the facts which 

 came under his own observation. For his part he was not 

 prepared to say that no males existed among the Bdelloid 

 Rotifera, but he had never been able to find one, and he was 

 inclined to believe that if they ever had existed, their services 

 had long ago been dispensed with. Mr. Wesche's suggestion that 

 the males had disappeared as a result of degeneration was 

 a possible explanation of their absence, and one new to the 

 speaker. As regarded the resting eggs, Mr. Wesche thought 

 that he had found such belonging to a Bdelloid Rotifer, 

 Callidina plena, but it must be remembered that three things 

 were necessary before they could say that what was found was 

 really a "resting egg.^'' It must be proved that the species in 

 question laid two distinct forms of egg ; that one of these took a 

 very much longer time than the other to mature and produce 

 the young animal ; and that the resting egg was that one of 

 the two forms which required the most time for its development. 

 Notwithstanding Dr. Janson's statements, any reported appear- 

 ance of a "resting egg^^ among the Bdelloid Rotifera must 

 be very carefully confirmed before it could be accepted as an 

 absolute fact. 



The Chairman was sure that all would join in thanking those 

 who had contributed to their knowledge on this subject. He 

 thought also they should particularly thank Mr. Wesche for 

 giving til em in a short compass at that hour of the evening the 



