Marvels of Pond-Life. 59 



perpendicular position. Mr. Gosse, speaking of this 

 genus, observes " that the whole of the upper part of 

 the body is lined with a sensitive, contractile, partially- 

 opaque membrane, which a little below the disk recedes 

 from the walls of the body, and forms a diaphragm, 

 with a highly contractile and versatile central orifice. 

 At some distance lower down another diaphragm 

 occurs, and the ample chamber thus enclosed forms a 

 kind of crop, or receptacle for the captured prey." 



"From the ventral side of the ample crop that 

 precedes the stomach, there springs in F. ornata a 

 perpendicular membrane or veil, partly extending 

 across the cavity. This is free, except at the vertical 

 edge, by which it is attached to the side of the 

 chamber, and being ample and of great delicacy, it 

 continually floats and. waves from side to side. At the 

 bottom of this veil, but on the dorsal side, are placed 

 the jaws, consisting of a pair of curved, unjointed, but 

 free mallei, with a membranous process beneath each." 



The Beautiful Floscule could always be made to 

 repeat the process of retreating into her den, and 

 coming out again to spread her elegant plumes before 

 our eyes, by giving the table a smart knock, and her 

 colours and structure were well exhibited by the dark- 

 ground illumination, which has been explained in a 

 previous page. 



An object like this should be watched at intervals 

 for hours and even days, especially if the eggs are 

 nearly ready to give up their infantile contents. This 

 was the case with the specimen described, and after a 

 few hours a young Floscule escaped, looking very much 



