(ILIAHY MOnoX. liil 



down the body, and lying between the two long 

 spines, a shorter one was articulated, which followed 

 the same curve. A gizzard was busy in the breast, 

 and the body terminated in two short toes, which 

 grasped a large round egg. AVhenever the cilia 

 were drawn in, the three spines were thrown up; 

 but they had an independent motion of their own, 

 and every now and then were jerked suddenly and 

 violently back, which occasioned a rapid change in 

 the creature's position. The gizzard appeared to 

 consist of two rounded masses, having several ridges 

 or teeth, which worked as^ainst each other somethinijr 

 like the prominences of a cotfee-mill. Froui the three 

 spines, this animal was a Iriarthra^ or Tliree-limbed 

 Rotifer, but the position of the spines, and tlie 

 toes, made it differ from any species described in 

 the ^'Micrographic Dictionary," or in Pritchard. 



Whether or not this species is to be regarded as 

 having a lorica or not, must depend upon the pre- 

 cise meaning attached to that word. At any rate 

 the integument was much firmer than in many of 

 the rotifers, and gave an efficient support to the 

 spines which a mere skin could not do. As Mr. 

 Gosse remarks of au allied genus, the PoJyarthra^ 

 or Many-limbed Rotifer, this creature could not be 

 investigated without coming to the conclusion ''Here 

 again we have true jointed limbs;" a fact of great 

 importance in determining the zoological rank of 



