LOBES OF FLOSCULE. ' 81 



and rather higher than its front side, is ph'iced so 

 as to sh)pe from the front of tlie bottom towards 

 the back at the top. The piece of glass first dropped 

 in keeps it in the right position, and the trough 

 is thus made into a V-shaped vessel, wide at the 

 top and gradiudly narrowing. Any object then 

 placed in it will fall till it fits some part of the V, 

 where it will remain for o])servation. A small wedge 

 of cork enables the moveable piece of glass to be 

 thrown forwards, until it assumes any angle, or is 

 brought parallel to the front of the trough. 



A power of five or six hundred diameters generally 

 enables a movement of small globules to be seen at 

 the exti'emity of the lobes of the Floscule, and the 

 gizzard may be made plain by dissolving the rest 

 of the creature in a drop of solution of caustic 

 potash. It also becomes more visible as the supply 

 of food falls short. Mr. Gosse desci'ibes the body 

 as 'dined with a yellowish vascular membrane," 

 and yoking specimens exhibit two red eyes, Avhich 

 may* or may not be found in adults. When these 

 eyes of Rotifers are not I'eadily conspicuous, they 

 must be sought for by opaque illumination, or by 

 the dark-ground method which, especially with the 

 parabola, is successful in bringing them out. 



Naturalists, and possibly the specimens also, do 

 not always agree in the number of lobes assigned 

 to the "Beautiful Floscule," and although it is easy 



