268 C. F. ROUSSELET ON RATTULUS COLLARIS. 



Ballenstedt Castle in the Harz Mountains. It was first dis- 

 covered by Dr. Daday in Hungary, and figured and described 

 by him in 1885 in the Publications of Budapest University, but 

 the text is in Hungarian and therefore scarcely available outside 

 Hungary ; it has since been found in various parts of Germany, 

 but not yet in England. The animals found by Dr. Daday had 

 the left posterior spine quite short, a mere thorn, and hence the 

 specific name ; those found by me had also the same character, 

 but some that I previously received from Mr Lauterborn, which 

 had been collected near Ludwigshafen, have both posterior 

 spines of quite equal length, as represented in the figure ; in a 

 few individuals, however, the left posterior spine is somewhat 

 shorter, to even half its normal size. Similar animals had been 

 found before by Professor Wierzejski, who named this variety 

 " Homoceros " ; it is well-known, however, that the posterior 

 spines in the Brachionadee are very variable, so that this 

 point is insufficient to make even a variety. The shape of the 

 animal will best be seen from the figures. The lorica is com- 

 pressed as a whole, but arched dorsally ; it has four spines 

 anteriorly : two very short straight median spines, between 

 which the dorsal antenna protrudes, and two very long ones at 

 the outer corners. Posteriorly, the lorica becomes narrowed 

 and carries two long diverging spines, the left of which may be 

 more or less reduced in size, or represented only by a short 

 thorn. The shell is quite smooth and glassy transparent. 

 The corona consists of a number of well-marked lobes with 

 long cilia ; the jaws and whole internal anatomy are of 

 Brachionus type. Dr. Daday seems to have attached great 

 importance to the structure of the foot, and to have created a 

 new genus merely on that account. The foot is certainly very 

 peculiar ; it is extremely long, very flexible, wrinkled, and 

 appears' at first sight bifurcate at the end, with two toe-like 

 structures at each termination. A bifurcate foot would be a 

 quite unique feature amongst Rotifers, but in reality I do not 

 consider that the foot of Schizocerca is bifurcate ; I consider the 

 bifurcation to be simply the greatly elongated toes, shouldered 

 at the end, each terminating in two soft fleshy points, at the 

 base of which is situated the aperture for the escape of the 

 secretion of the foot-glands. As in all species of Brachionus, 

 the long toes can be wholly withdrawn into the terminal 



