GENUS LOPHOMONAS. 321 



Hexamita nodulosa, Duj. 



Body oblong, with three or four longitudinal nodular rows, the two 

 lateral of which are extended posteriorly, imparting to this region a 

 bifurcate aspect ; caudal flagella produced from the posterior bifurca- 

 tions ; vibratile flagella four in number, long and slender, projecting from 

 the anterior margin. Length 1-2000" to 1-1500". 



Hab. — Pond water with decomposing animal matter. 



This species, as yet observed only by Dujardin, is most probably, as suggested 

 by Biitschli, a variety merely of II. inflata. 



Fam. XVII. LOPHOMONADIDiE, S. K. 



Animalcules naked, solitary, and free-swimming, bearing a tuft of flagella 

 at the anterior extremity ; no distinct oral aperture. 



Genus I. LOPHOMONAS, Stein. 



Animalcules free-swimming, somewhat plastic and varying in form, 

 spherical, ovate, or fusiform, bearing at the anterior extremity a crescent- 

 shaped fascicle of long, slender flagella ; endoplast sometimes distinct ; con- 

 tractile vesicle not yet recognized ; inhabiting the intestinal tract of various 

 Insecta. 



This genus was first instituted by Stein, in the year i860,* for the reception of a 

 singular form obtained by him from the intestinal canal of the common cockroach, 

 Blatta {Periplaneta) orientalis. The same type has been since met with under similar 

 conditions by O. Biitschh, who has further described a second well-marked species. 

 The tuft-like fascicle of flagella at the anterior extremity, forming the leading 

 characteristic of the members of this genus, consists of so thick an aggregation of 

 these vibratile appendages, as to convey to the individual zooids the aspect almost 

 of certain Ciliata, such as Stmnibidium. 



Lophomonas blattarum, Stein. Pl, XIX. Figs. 52-54. 



Body somewhat variable in form, ovate or subspherical, surface smooth ; 

 the frontal margin slightly narrowed, abruptly truncate ; flagella issuing in 

 a dense brush-like tuft from the frontal border, the central ones longest, 

 directed straight forward, equal to or exceeding the length of the body, the 

 lateral ones shorter, gradually diminishing in size, reflected outwards; 

 an indistinct vesicular space posteriorly located ; endoplast spherical, 

 situated in the median line near the anterior extremity. Length of body 

 1-825". 



Hab. — Intestine of the common cockroach, Blatta {Periplaiieta) orientalis. 



The accounts given by Stein and Biitschli of this animalcule, while agreeing in 

 general details with one another, differ slightly in some minor points. Stein, for 

 instance, has described the examples examined by him as of a rounded sub- 

 spherical shape, whereas those forming the subject of Biitschli's investigations were, 

 for the most part, of elongate-oval form ; the rounder outline being chiefly associated 



Sitz. der konig. bohm. Ges. Wiss.' 



