FLUSCULARIA HOODII. 295 



time, the floscule will be observed to be slowly closing the aper- 

 ture to prevent the escape of the vigorous animalcule, which has 

 made the fatal mistake of entering the alluring flower-like cup. 



F. Hoodii inhabits a large, clear, transparent tube, and finds a 

 suitable environment either in a marsh pool or lake. The first 

 examples found were attached to SphagJium collected from a marsh 

 ditch on Tents Muir, Fifeshire ; then, again, on Myriophyllum, 

 dredged from the centre of Loch Lundie, Forfarshire ; and on 

 Ra7i2inculus from Blacklock, Blairgowrie, Perthshire, and recently 

 on Ranunculus^ dredged from a lake in co. Mayo, Ireland. 



It is to be regretted that this handsome rotiferon is so rare, yet 

 it is fairly well distributed, for I have found it in three counties in 

 Scotland and also in the West of Ireland. Examples have also 

 been found in Wiirtemberg, Germany, by Herr L. Bilfinger, who 

 found a number on My7'iophyUum on the 28th of September, 

 1890, an account of which is published in his List of Rotatorien- 

 fau7ia Wurte?nbergs, 1892, and is the only other published record 

 of this animal that I am aware of since the Monograph on Roti- 

 fera^ by Dr. Hudson and P. H. Gosse, published in 1886. 



Literature relating to Floscularia Hoodii: 



C. T. Hudson, LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.M.S.— "On Five New 

 Floscules ; with a Note on Prof. Leidy's genera, Acyclus and Dic- 

 tyophora^'' Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society^ 1883, pp. 

 161— 171, Pis. III. and IV. 



Dr. Hudson and P. H. Gosse, "The Rotifera or Wheel Ani- 

 malcules," 1886, p. 55. 



Von L. Bilfinger, '•''Zur Rotatorienfauna Wilrfembergs,^^ 1892, 

 p. 110, /ahreshefte des Vereinsfiir Vaterl. Natur. ift Wiirtemberg. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIV. 



Fig. 1. — Lateral view, d.p., Dorsal processes, e. , The position of the 

 eyes in the neck, r., Transparent dorsal ridge. 



2. — Ventral view, (/.m., Granular mucous matter excreted from 

 the free ends of the dorsal processes. 



Figures by Dr. Hudson. 



5) 



