47 



ON THE BDELLOID ROTIFERA OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



PAET I. 

 By W. Milne, M.A., B.Sc, F.E.S.E. 



{Read March 28th, 1916.) 



Plates 2-6. 



The material for this paper lias been gathered intermittently 

 during the last ten years. A few of the species described are 

 aquatic, but the large majority are moss-dwellers. The aquatic 

 species are probably very numerous in South Africa, but little 

 attention was paid to them. 



Only a few meagre lists of South African Bdelloida, with no 

 description of new species, had been published when in 1911 

 Murray's Bdelloid Rotifera of South Africa (11) * was issued. 

 He mentioned fifty-three species as having been found, and 

 tabulated forty which he had himself seen. Of these forty I 

 have seen all but seven, and of the other thirteen I have seen ten. 



I have been enabled to widen the scope of this paper by the 

 help of several friends, who provided moss from parts inaccessible 

 to me, and I have much pleasure in naming species after them. 



I have had much correspondence with Mr. Bryce, and feel 

 greatly indebted to him for assistance freely given. I received 

 also from Mr. James Murray many helpful suggestions. 



Mr. Bryce (6) has done a great service to students of Bdel- 

 LoiDA in publishing his new classification. He has brought 

 order out of what was fast becoming chaos. His classification 

 is an excellent piece of work. I have only one small objection 

 to make, and that is to a name. Mr. Bryce has proved conclu- 

 sively that C. elegans (Ehr.) was certainly different from the 

 short-footed species, which have usually been termed Callidina, 

 therefore it follows that the genus Callidina, founded on that 

 species, cannot include the short-footed ones. At one time I 



* Note. — The figures in brackets refer to the Bibliography. 



