AND TWELVE NEW SPECIES OF ROTIFERA OF THE ORDER BDELLOIDA. 381 
incurved. Reproduction viviparous. Swims free, with spurs brought close together 
and dises also approximated. 
General description.—Greatest length =}, to gy inch when creeping. All colourless 
except the alimentary canal. Longitudinal folds of trunk few, dorsal faint, lateral 
stronger. Brain elongate, triangular. Stomach ample. Intestine elongate, elliptical. 
Rump and foot of about equal length. First foot-joint long, with faint annular striz. 
Second joint with stronger strize, crossed above the spurs by two oblique folds of 
skin, which nearly meet in the middle line, and give the appearance of an extra joint. 
Spurs with obscure shoulder on inner side at base, then slhghtly contracted and ex- 
panded again nearer tip. Foot-glands rather small, with very long ducts. Most 
examples with two well-grown young, showing teeth and corona, and one younger 
foetus. Vibratile tags, five on each side seen. 
Habits.—The large size, lanky form, and large spurs and toes, suggest that the 
animal is a parasite, but it has not yet been found attached to any host. On the other 
hand, its readiness to swim, and its characteristic attitude when swimming, spurs and 
dises being brought together as though to lessen the resistance, are like the actions of 
a free-living animal. Several species of parasitic Bdelloids have small brains and are 
blind, and there is some reason to believe that this reduction is a consequence of the 
mode of life. The power of swimming might be of advantage to an ectoparasite by 
enabling it to change its host if necessary. When swimming, the rostrum is kept fully 
extended. When creeping, the toes are often kept out during the whole of the step. 
Habitat.—Among aquatic mosses growing at the margin of Loch Ness, at Fort- 
Augustus, April 1904; in the Caledonian Canal, Fort-Augustus, December 1904. 
Philodina laticeps, n. sp. (Plate VII. figs. 11a to 11h.) 
Specific characters——Very large, elongate, yellowish. Corona very large, much 
wider than trunk, dises broad, concave, separated by space nearly equal to diameter of 
dise. On each disc an elevated conical papilla, with broad apex bearing several short 
motile cilia. Rostrum short and broad, with minute lamellz. Antenna short, length 
equal to 4 diameter of neck. Brain a minute triangle, no eyes. Teeth, two on each 
jaw, with one thinner tooth. Foot and rump together just under half of total length. 
Foot of four joints. Spurs large, broad, blade-shaped, divergent, interstice equal to 
diameter of spur. Dorsal toes small, ventral long, incurved. Parasitic on insect larvee. 
Oviparous. 
General description.—Greatest length =}; to 35 inch when creeping. All hyaline 
except alimentary canal. Trunk longitudinally plicate, central segments covered with 
a hair-like growth, which is probably a vegetable parasite. Corona broadest and dises 
largest known in the order. Yolk-mass with eight or nine nuclei; the large egg 
pointed at anterior end. Intestine long, elliptical. Foot-glands long, with very long 
ducts. Four vibratile tags on each side seen. 
