Royal 3Iicroscopical Society. 171 



single setigerous antenna, practising as is found on closer exami- 

 nation an incessant protrusion and retraction, and thus manifest- 

 ing the same general construction as that so lucidly described by 

 Professor Williamson in his elaborate description of Melicerta 

 ringens in 1853, and it is seen in the instance of Philodine 

 that when the tentacle is protruded it is terminated by a tuft of 

 fine divergent setae (Plate LXXXL, Fig. 3), implanted on a pear- 

 shaped body, " from the under-side of which there proceeds a delicate 

 muscular band " which in contracting draws this pear-shaped body 

 downwards, thus inverting the extremity of the tube, and forming a 

 double sheath protecting the setae (Fig. ^). And such I must submit 

 to the process followed in the instance of (E. longicovnis. It is 

 opposed to the facts of animal physiology that a vascular structm-e 

 hke the tube, should support a palpable diaphragm pierced with an 

 orifice presenting a sharp edge such as would result from drilling a 

 hole in a metal plate. 



From the opportunities I have had of examining many examples 

 of the building propensities of the genus Philodina, I can confi- 

 dently assert that these temporary dwelhngs are more frequently 

 of the consistent form shown by Fig. 5, with the enclosed occupant 

 indistinctly indicated, and in outline by Fig. 6, which is ofiered as 

 a portrait of this vagrant occupier in her expanded condition ; and 

 I am prepared to aflirm that these forms do not abstain altogether 

 from this habit of building, even during the warmer months ; they 

 perform the same operati(3ns under conditions of greater activity, 

 not remaining on one spot for periods of sufficient duration to perfect 

 the work, as sho^Mi by Fig. 5, but only to produce efi'ects similar to 

 those shown by Figs. 1 and 2, which are reproductions of Mr. 

 Tatem's sketches. 



The Floscules also give conclusive evidence of this adoption of a 

 winter protection. I find numerous instances of every species in 

 which they have invariably selected the fork of the weed for the 

 purpose, affording as it does additional security and stability for 

 such a retreat. The inhabitants are generally accompanied by 

 several eggs, and these, from the effects of the artificial warmth of a 

 living room, are rapidly hatched, two or three at one time being 

 frequently seen struggling for ascendency to attain freedom, so that 

 I have had a numerous juvenile popidation of F. cornuta, which 

 species happens this year to predominate in my collections. I have 

 consequently selected this charming httle creature, with its ova and 

 family, as an appropriate illustration of a Floscule in its winter habi- 

 tation, through which it has emerged under the effects of artificial 

 warmth (Fig. 7). 



This same class of protection is adopted by F. campanulata and 

 F. ornata to a proportionate extent ; and my new species, F. coro- 

 netta, which is the most sensitive and timid of them all, carries out 



