MELICERTA TUBE. ' 133 



Not being able to obtain a living specimen of 

 the Melicerta, who made her tube of long sugar- 

 loaves, 1 could not tell whether she differed in 

 structure from the usual pattern of her race, but 

 the general appearance of the dead body Avas the 

 same. It is possible that these creatures possess 

 some power of modifying the form of their singular 

 bricks, or they may at different ages vary the pat- 

 terns, which matters some fortunate possessor of a 

 colony of these animals may be able to verify. 



In the sediment of the water containing the 

 Melicerta cases was found an animalcule about 1- 

 120" long, covered with cilia, and having a proboscis 

 seldom more than a quarter of the length assumed 

 by the body, which continually changed its form, 

 sometimes elongating, sometimes shortening, and often 

 contracting one side into a deep fissure. It was, 

 probably, an Amphileptus^ though not precisely 

 agreeing with any drawing or description I am 

 acquainted with. Another inmate of the same water 

 was a lively long- tailed rotifer, with a small oval 

 body, a tuft of vibrating cilia and a curved bristle 

 visible among them on one side. This creature had 

 a jointed tail-foot, ending in two long style-shaped 

 toes, and by means of this appendage executed rapid 

 leaps or springs. It was the Scaridium longicmidinn^ 

 and agreed in dimensions tolerably well with the size 

 given in the books, namely, total length 1-72". With 



