•^1893.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 5 



count, of twenty-four or twenty-five each on the average, giving a 

 ■total of over five hundred pellets. 



My experience confirmed that of Gosse, that the time occupied 

 in forming a pellet averaged about one minute, for there were 

 short intervals, as you will hear presently. The deposition was 

 accomplished by a sudden jerking of the head, but so rapidly that 

 I could not determine the precise instant of deposit. When we 

 consider that the material for the formation of these pellets had 

 to be gathered from the surrounding medium, in which scarcely a 

 trace could be discovered — literally a case of " making bricks with- 

 •out straw" — it would seem a stupendous effort. All through, the 

 same perfect order in deposition, the same delicately graduated 

 and enlarging diameter, which we are so accustomed to admire in 

 Melicertians, had been maintained — one more proof of the un- 

 erring instinct bestowed by the Omniscient Architect on the first 

 Melicertian that ever built its case on these lines, and which had 

 descended through countless generations to the one now before me. 



Prof. Williamson says the first rows of these cases are depos- 

 ited upon a '' thin hyaline cylinder, the dilated extremity of which 

 is attached to the supporting object." Now, with his paper and 

 illustrations before me, I looked very carefully for this cylinder, 

 all through the process of building, but looked in vain. A sup- 

 port of some kind seems essential on which to agglutinate the 

 first pellet, and from it the first caudal row of pellets. For al- 

 though adhesion to each other by means of the viscous secretion 

 -employed can be understood, they would hardly keep in position 

 without some attachment. But, assuming the existence of this 

 •*'thin hyaline cylinder," another difficulty arises, that of com- 

 pleting the connection between the tube and the base on which it 

 is designed to finally rest, when the cylinder would manifestly be 

 in the way. Gosse does not mention such a " cylinder," but the 

 omission is accounted for by the fact that he witnessed the con- 

 struction from a vertical point of view. 



Whilst 1 entertain the highest regard for Prof. Williamson's 

 paper and for his general erudition, I beg respectfully to say that 

 the after-process I observed leads me to a different conclusion. 

 When I first observed the tiny worker the lowest row of pellets was 

 the y^ of an iiich from the base of operations. After three 

 hours' labor in building, this had been reduced one-half. At the 



