THE VICTORIAX NATURALIST. 



towards the sea, touched the creek at several points, and finally 

 struck out for the Newport station, thereby reaching town an 

 hour and a half sooner than would have been possible from 

 Hatherley. The material collected showed a rather disappointing 

 paucity of animal life, but there was much for the cryptogamic 

 botanist. Of the Protozoa taken the most interesting was a 

 Zoothamnium, apparently Z. dichotomum of Saville Kent. Hand- 

 some colonies of this were adhering to a cladophora. A peculiar 

 Vorticella was noted, the breadth of the animalcules being so 

 great in proportion to their length that they presented almost the 

 appearance of a saucer. The common Vaginicola, V. crystalline,, 

 and the more interesting Thuricola, T. opercula'a, secure in their 

 crystalline sheaths beneath a well-fitting trap door, were found 

 in numbers. The curious hypotrichous animalcule, Chilodon 

 cuculhdus, was plentiful. The specimens of this were the largest 

 we have ever seen, no doubt owing to the abundant food supply, 

 as they were simply gorging themselves on Diatoms. The few 

 Rotifers taken were all of common species. A large, clear, stony 

 pool afforded the ordinary forms of Entomostraca. Specimens 

 of a Cyclops, however, were noted, showing a pinkish colour to 

 the eye. Under the microscope this was seen to arise from the 

 presence of numerous granules of brilliant carmine colour about 

 the carapace. To determine with certainty the many species of 

 Algse which lined the banks of the creek would require the 

 knowledge of an expert. Among the filamentous forms we noted, 

 in addition to lovely species of Spirogyra, the much rarer Siro- 

 gonium, apparently S. sticticum of Great Britain. This grows in 

 whitish-coloured masses, owing to the comparatively small 

 amount of chlorophyll in the cells. Bluish-green filaments, about 

 ^^-in. in diameter, appeared to be a species of Lyngbya. Of 

 branching forms we noted a very pretty Cladophora, apparently 

 C. gracilis, and, clothing the lower part of the reeds, a Stigeo- 

 clonium in great profusion. 



Diatoms in great numbers, mostly parasitic, were taken. 

 The older cells of the Cladophora were coated with Cocconeis, 

 probably two species. The Sirogonium filaments gave two species 

 of Synedra, probably S. idna and S. gracilis, in plentiful clusters. 

 The Short-stemmed Achnanthes, A. brevipes, dotted some of the 

 Algae. A pretty filamentous form appeared to be Rhabdonema min- 

 utum. But the most interesting of the Diatoms was found grow- 

 ing in large brown plumose tufts, close to the railway bridge. 

 These were subsequently seen to consist of vast numbers of 

 gelatinous threads, the Diatoms being packed closely side by 

 side longitudinally in these filaments. They could be seen, 

 under the microscope, gliding slowly up and down, passing each 

 other, but not leaving the limits of their filament. The Diatoms 

 measured about g^j-in. in length, but are very narrow and 



