142 II. W. KING ON P0N1> J.IFK FROM THE WEST INDIES. 



VIII.), as if to reduce the size, and so save themselves the 

 labour of constructing an entire tube. 



On one occasion I observed another of the same species enter 

 and pass partially down the tube while the owner was at the 

 other end. When they met both became excited, darting back- 

 wards and forwards at one another with a rapid motion ; but 

 the trespasser soon turned and quickly fled from the tube and 

 swam away, the pursuer stopping at the end of its tube, and, 

 after protruding its head a little way, turned, and drawing 

 some fine particles of earthy matter with its claws to its 

 dwelling, it closed the aperture again, and commenced journey- 

 ing up and down the tube as before. 



I have watched one live in a single tube for several days, 

 coursing incessantly up and down it, never seeming to rest 

 either at night or d?ij. As they only leave their tubes that 

 they may go elsewhere to adapt or construct another, they are 

 very rarely seen swimming free in the water. When they do 

 they are extremely restless, and always eager to seek the refuge 

 of a cluster of earthy particles or rootlets, into which they try 

 to burrow. * What the cause may be that induces them to leave 

 one tube, that has cost them so much labour to make, or adapt 

 to their requirements, for another tube, I am unable to say, 

 unless it may be the necessity of obtaining food, as they seem 

 to feed upon something inside their dwelling, so that when 

 this is devoured hanger necessitates them seeking another 

 tube for the twofold purpose of protection and a feeding ground ; 

 or it may be that ova are deposited, and when that is the case 

 the parent leaves the tube it was in, for the use and protection 

 of its coming oifspring. 



On one occasion I tried the experiment of placing one on a 

 glass slide and allowing the water to evaporate, and after 

 throwing itself into various positions, as if trying to find a 

 means of making itself as small as possible, the Rotifer finally 

 rolled itself into a spherical mass, with its extremities coiled 

 round it, in which condition the carapace-like nature of the 

 dorsal part of the animal may be distinctly seen. Having kept 

 it thus dried up, wrinkled, and apparently dead for over an 

 hour, I covered it again with some water, and in about two 

 hours it gradually began to revive, and ultimately assume its 

 normal condition. 



