72 THE rtOTIFEIiA. 



the little visitor with perfect composure, and continued to feed as if quite undisturbed 

 by its presence." The same observer broke up about fifty tubes of 31. riiigcns in 

 December, and procured ten specimens of tlie same small llotiferou from them : iu one 

 case there were four males iu a single tube. 



In the above account, the presence of a forked foot, and of a mastax and tropin, and 

 the fact that the latter were seen to be protruded fi-om the corona, would naturally lead 

 one to say that the Eotiferon recorded was rather some one of the Notommatada than a 

 male Mcliccrla. On the other hand, its miresented action towards the female was pre- 

 cisely that noticed by Mr. Gosse in the case of M. conifcra ; and the latter observer has 

 also seen trophi in a very similar creature with similar habits, which he believes to be 

 the male of Limnias ceratophylli.^ 



Length. Varies greatly. Average length of an adult tube about 3',, inch. Specimens 

 twice the size are common in Scotch lakes. Those in clusters, in Philadelphia, U.S., 

 extend even to J inch. Habitat. Very common on water plants, iu standing or slowly 

 running water. 



M. coNiFEE.\, Hudson, sp. uov. 

 (PI. V. fig. 2.) 



SP. CII. Lobes, ivhcn expanded, of the same tvidth as the tube ; chin long and 



2}oinled ; pellet a pointed cylinder. 



This Mclicerta is somewhat larger, and very much rarer, than M. ringens. It was 

 discovered by Mr. J. Hood iu 187C in a pool on Tent's Muir. He found it again in pro- 

 fusion in the siuiimer, autumn, and even in some of the winter months of 1879, the 

 weed being quite matted with it. The points of difference between it and M. ringens 

 are persistent, though slight ; but the difference in their tubes is strildng. This is due 

 to the shape and quality of the pellets. They are much longer in proportion to their 

 diameter than those of M. ringens, so as to resemble a conical rifle bullet ; and they 

 are more transparent, and of a clear golden yellow. In consequence of their length the 

 tube is a stout one, and its thiclmcss is shown by a stripe on each side of a different colour 

 from the centre of the tube, and darker or lighter according to the illumiuation used. 



The fully expanded lobes are almost exactly as wide as the top of the tube, but in 

 il/. ringens they exceed it in the proportion of ten to nine. The chin, too, differs fi-om 

 that of the common species ; it is longer and more pointed. 



The Male. — [Iu water from Eppiug Forest sent to me by ]Mr. Henry Davis, 1 found 

 Melicerta conifera, projected and rotating. Emerging from the mouth of the tube, about 

 three-fourths extruded, was a nuile (PL D. fig. 6) about as long as the diameter of the 

 tube, playhig, as it were, with the disk of the female. Two irregular shaped opaque 

 masses were seen in it far apart from each other. Hooked away for a minute to delineate 

 what I had seen, and he was gone : but I presently found him slowly swinnuing around, 

 wliich he continued to do, turning on his long axis as he went. There was now only one 

 opaque mass, the hinder ; and this was in contact (whether in connection I do notlaiow) 

 with a large ovate clear bladder, perhaps an air vesicle. The head is oblique, the face 

 ciliated, the occiput, angled and projecting. The foot is a little knob of Mesh. I could 

 see no hiternal organs, nothing but the clear, colourless tissue, full of corrugations 

 throughout. P.Ii.G.] 



Length. About jV, inch ; tube, -,\i in^li- Habitat. Marsh pools, Fife and Perth 

 (J.H.) ; abundant iu a pool at Snaresbrook (P.H.G.i : rare. 



M. TUBicoLAKiA, Ehrenberg. 



(PI. V. fig. 3.) 

 Tiibicolaria Naias . . . Ehrenberg, Die In/us. 1838, p. 399. Taf. xlv. fig. 1. 



" .. • . Lejdig, rc6. rf. Bi<«. d. iiudfW/i. 1851, i>. 11, Taf. i. fig. 7. 



' See p. 76. 



