34 KOUGIITON, ON THE GLOSSIPHONID^. 



G. marghiata, and G. rachana!^ G. complanata, hyalina, 

 bioculata, appear to be common everywhere ; tessulata and 

 marrfinata, which latter species I have lately added to our 

 English Fauna C^ Annals and Magazine of Natural History/ 

 vol. V, No. 28, third series), are rarely found. G. tessulata, 

 which is the largest British species known, approaches in its 

 form and consistency to the genera Hirudo, Hamopis, &c. 



All the members of this family are interesting objects for 

 microscopical study, owing to the extreme transparency of 

 young individuals and the facility with which specimens may 

 be procured. Some of the species, as G. complanata, G. 7rtar- 

 ginata, and G. tessulata, deposit their ova upon the under surface 

 of submerged stones, pieces of wood, &c., sitting upon them 

 until the embryos are hatched ; they may thus literally be 

 said to incubate, which they do with an assiduity not inferior 

 to some of the higher orders of animal life I know not who 

 was the first observer to record this singular habit, but 

 nothing of the kind occurs in any other animal so low in the 

 scale of creation ; one is* reminded, indeed, as Grube has 

 observed, of the somewhat analogous case of Coccus, 

 the wingless female of which sits over her ova, but in this 

 case what is life to the new progeny is death to the parent, 

 whose dead body forms a shield-like protection for her young ; 

 but the Glossiphon, though she shows a thin and emaciated 

 appearance after the "lying-in," in time recovers her strength 

 and usual figure. 



The Glossiphon is a leech-like animal, with a dilated and 

 depressed body; the upper surface is more or less convex, and 

 in some species beset with rows of small, conical, semi- 

 transparent papillae ; the under surface is either flat or con- 

 cave ; the anterior extremity, which in a few of the species 

 may be said to form a distinct head, is always less obtuse 

 than the posterior ; the mouth, which is situated nearly at 

 the apex of the anterior extremity, is transversely elliptical, 

 two-lipped, and furnished with a strong, muscular, protractile 

 proboscis, on which peculiarity Dr. R. Johnson formed the 

 name of the genus which so appropriately characterises it ; 

 the number of eyes varies in ditterent species, there being 

 either one, two, three, or four pairs, generally of a black or deep- 

 claret colour, disposed in two longitudinal series, but slightly 



* The names of five other species are given in Johnston's unpublished 

 'Cafulogue of British Annelida,' viz., G. Jlava, G. granifera, G. circulaus^ 

 G. Uneata, and G. vitrina ; the first, which is described by Dalzell, is evi- 

 dently G. marghiata, the last appears to be a variety of G. tessulata, a most 

 variable species ; the claims of the three remaining species rest on very 

 insufficient evidence. 



