26 THE ROTIFEEA. 



Having mucli in common with F. molaris, tins is quite cli\'ersG in facies and habit. 

 The head is of nearly the same thickness as the trunk ; the little overarching tail 

 (seemingly a stiff point), and the short but massive foot, are differences that strike one 

 at first sight. The eye is distinct, quite prominently frontal ; immediately beneath it 

 the face recedes, and becomes a sub-prone ciliate surface, ajiplied to the feeding-ground. 

 It it much larger than F. molaris. The single specimen seen had a great contractile 

 vesicle, and a small undeveloped ovary. The stomach seemed undivided. The fore- 

 parts were tinged of a delicate yellow hue. It was not much addicted to swimming, 

 but crept vivaciously about the vegetation, grubbing and browsing. 



Length, ^\j inch. Habitat. A pond in Watcombe Park, Torquay. P.H.G.] 



FuECULAEiA SPH^EICA, Gosse (171), (PI. XXXI. fig. IG). 



[SP. CH. Body globose dorsally, nearly flat ventrally ; foot short, tliick ; toes 

 small, straight, acute; the dorsum projecting over them icith a slight rim or margin, 

 which, laterally seen, looks like a tail. 



In lateral aspect this pleasing little form may easily be mistaken for a deep Colurus, 

 till the trophi reveal its true Furcularian character, confirmed by a minute ruby eye at 

 the extreme front ; as also by its motions. The head seems not retractile. I first 

 formed acquaintance with it, in half-a-dozen examples on different occasions, from 

 tide-pools in the Firth of Tay. Then a specimen, recently dead, occurred in fresh- 

 water among Myriophyllum, thickly studded with Mclicerta ringens and Floscularia 

 cornuta. And presently, to confirm the amphibious habitat, I fomid one alive in 

 Utricularia from a lough in the centre of Ireland. These fi-esh-water specimens I 

 could in nowise distinguish from the marine. 



Length, ^^^ inch. Habitat. Marine and lacustrme. P.H.G.] 



FuKCULAitiA EVA, Gossc (171), (PI. XXXI. fig. 17). 



[SP. CH. BoiY stout, fusiform, strongly elevated on the shoulder; foot short, in- 

 distinct ; toes more than half as long as hody-and-head, thick for half this length, tlien 

 abruptly attenuated for the remainder. 



The great length and pecuhar form of the toes, which are often thrown back, and 

 carried over the back, give a facies to this rather fine species, which at once strikes an 

 observer. Sometimes these organs are extended iu opposite directions in a horizontal 

 line, imparting to the animal the figure of the letter X reversed. The mastax is ample ; 

 the incus a thick rod, bent in the middle backwards, and ending occipitally in a pair of 

 long and broad scythe-shaped processes ; the mallei indistinct. A slender brain descends 

 behind ; but no eye is visible, unless two very pale globules, close side by side, in the 

 very front, are such. 



A single specimen only has occurred, whose activity mainly consisted iu the vigoi'ous 

 thromng into different positions of the characteristic toes. 



Length, ^ \~f inch. Habitat. Mill stream, Kingskerswell. P.H.G.] 



FUECULAEIA LOPHYEA, GoSSC (1G9), (PI. XXXI. fig. 19). 



[SP. CH. BoAj ficsiform ; head separated by a constriction ; back sharply ridged ; 

 toes broad at base, tapering at mid-length to long-drawn fine points. 



Somewhat near to F. gracilis, but the above characters, which arc constant iu a 

 great number of examples, sufficiently distinguish it. The body, sub-cyliudric at first, 

 swells more or less behind the middle, where the dorsum rises to a sharp edge, not a 

 carina. The head is large, always distinct, with a brilliant eye at the very front, and a 

 prone ciliate face. The trophi are those of gracilis, very large, often extruded. A thick 

 short foot bears two great toes (often widely expanded) one-fourth of the whole length ; 



