50 THE NORTHERN MICROSCOPIST. 
discerns nothing but an opaque or semi-opaque tube standing up 
like a tall chimney, a little widening upward ; for the timid little 
tenant, alarmed by the shaking of the table produced by the 
observer’s movements in sitting down and preparing, has shrunken 
down out of sight into his snug castle. In a few moments, how- 
ever, something peeps from the top; perhaps it is a simple rounded 
mass of crystal flesh, as in cevatophylii ; or the long antennal tube 
of cephalosiphon thrust out by jerks, and vigorously thrown to and 
fro; or the two incurving horns of vimgens slowly protruding, 
Suppose it is the last-named species, the most attractive of all, 
perhaps I might say the most interesting of the entire class of 
Rotifera. As the rounded mass of translucent flesh still protrudes, 
crowned by its two horns, like the spines of a rose, two other 
organs suddenly appear, stretching out from another part of the 
convexity, two long clear tubes, extending horizontally, one each 
side, which are the feelers or antenne. Now a quivering is dis- 
cerned in the interior, and in a moment the extremity opens and 
unfolds into four wide rounded flat lobes, like the petals of a 
transparent flower. The plane of this flower-like disk is not hori- 
zontal, but more or less oblique, sometimes approaching to 
perpendicular, and the two petals which are the highest are con- 
siderably larger than the two that are lowest ; the former being the 
fore, the latter the hind pair.” 
SPHAERIA HERBARUM. 
NOME writers have essayed to compare the “ organic continuity” 
which obtains during the series of changes which takes place 
before the formation of the complete and perfect fungus, to the 
fructification and subsequent reproduction of phanerogams; but 
there cannot be cited a single instance of a strictly parallel case, 
or one in which such analogy is fairly comparable. 
In following the old adage that a tree is known by its fruits, many 
mycologists fell into error in assuming that, starting with the fruit 
as a basis, species and even genera should be multiplied according 
to the varieties of the fruit; but Tulasne has done much work in 
trying to clear up the mystery which hung over these matters, and 
in working out the life-histories of various fungi. 
It may be that many of our readers are unacquainted with the 
admirable works of the brothers Tulasne, and the exquisite steel 
engravings which they contain, and therefore, to illustrate a few 
remarks we are about to make upon Spheria herbarum, we have 
reproduced on a smaller scale by means of photo-lithography plate 
