50 THE ROTIFERA. 
Length. Of head and body, ;3, inch; of toes, 5}, inch ; total length, about 1; inch ; 
vertical height at hunch, about g}, inch. Habitat. An aquarium (P.H.G.). 
D. rorcipara, Ehrenberg. 
(Pl. XIX, fig. 2.) 
Diglena forcipata . e : Ehrenberg, Die Infus. 1838, p. 443, Taf. ly. fig. 1. 
[SP. CH. Body cylindric, rather stout, obtuse at each end; face long, prone; 
trophi typically forcipate; toes scythe-shaped. 
This is one of the imposing species; stout, though more larva-like than either of the 
foregoing. The integument is again firm and thick, and forms tranverse folds, which are 
constant. The bluntly-tapered head carries the usual decurved fleshy proboscis, whence 
the ciliated face descends in the ventral plane to a length about one-third that of the 
body. A turbid brain descends far down the occiput, and bears two minute eyes on the 
very frontal edge. The mastax and jaws show a fine development of the form normal 
in this genus,! and perhaps they could nowhere be studied with greater advantage. 
The digestive apparatus differs little from that of D. grandis, or other species, but 
there is here no projection above the cloaca. The foot is large and bulbous, severed 
from the body by one of the strong folds; it bears-two toes, which are stout, shaped 
like the blade of a pocket-knife or scythe. A large contractile vesicle occupies the 
lower abdomen, which appeared strangely divided into two by a strong constriction. 
Small vibratile tags were seen on attenuate threads running down each side. 
I made acquaintance with this species, crowding the edges of a jar of water dipped 
from the ‘‘ Black Sea’’ at Wandsworth, in January 1850. It was active, but little given 
to locomotion. Its numerous cilia are in constant agitation, and appear pale blue 
by reflected light ; while the minute ruby-like eyes sparkle on the colourless body, the 
turbid parts of which are like whitish clouds. What I have called the proboscis may 
possibly be a broad lip, for it is visible only from the side. The wide spread of the 
toes is characteristic.2—P.H.G.] 
Length, 2; to 7; inch. Habitat. Domestic aquaria near London, and Torquay 
(P.H.G.); Sandhurst, Berks (Collins). 
D. crrctnator, Cosse, sp. nov. 
(Pl. XIX. fig. 4.) 
[SP. CH. Body slender at each end, gibbows in the middle; proboscis acute ; 
mastax moderate; toes slender, strongly incurved. 
The fore parts are slender and nearly cylindrical (but flattened on the oral surface), 
swelling somewhat suddenly to a great ovate body, gibbous on the back, but flat on the 
belly ; and as suddenly diminishing behind to a rather thick and short foot, which carries 
a pair of toes, each one a very regular quadrant of a cirele in outline, broad at the base, 
running off to a very fine pomt. These toes are decurved, and also incurved towards 
each other, like the legs of a pair of calliper-eompasses; and often thrown widely 
apart. The skin is very flexible, and, as the animal is every moment lengthening and 
contracting, and throwing itself into the most varied contortions, makes many irregular 
folds; yet the form delineated always recurs, and is evidently characteristic. The 
under surface has a remarkable projection (fig. 4a), pointing obliquely backward, more 
or less conspicuous, visible sometimes on each side in the dorsal aspect (fig. 4). This 
seems the limit of the ciliated face, The very front is furnished with a hook, which is 
capable of being thrown forward, as if hinged or jointed; and apparently sidewise also, 
for it is occasionally glimpsed for an instant, at either side of the head. This process is 
not a bent finger, but a regularly curved hook, hard and sharp-pointed. After a while 
1 They are described and figured in my Mem. ‘On the Mand. Org.”’ (Phil. Tr. 1856) 435, figs. 50, 51. 
2 The animal described and figured by Mr. J. E. Lord (Microsc. News, 1884, p. 146, figs. 23a, b, c) 
is, I have little doubt, the present species. 
