271 



1884. Wright, Ramsey. On the Nervous System and Sense-organs of Amiurus. 



Proc. Canadian Instit. Toronto. Vol. II. fasc. o. 



The above list is as complete as I could make it and includes all the impor- 

 tant papers on the subject. For the titles of some of the articles which I was 

 unable to consult, I am indebted to the papers of Sorensen and Francotte and 

 Prenant's " Elements d'Embryologie." 



The Snowbird at Night. By "NV. P. Shannon. 



On the Occurrence of Several Families of Aquatic Animalcul.e in 

 New Stations. By Elwood Pleas. 



On February ^o, 1896, while searching a small lichen for diatomes that might 

 have found a possible lodgment, it was a matter of much surprise to find a large 

 and active Rotifer vulgaris measuring its length across the microscopic field. Far- 

 ther examination of this lichen, as well as others from the same and neighboring 

 trees, logs, stumps, board and rail fences, disclosed the fact that the Rotifera (in 

 several genera and species), Anguillula fluviatilis, Macribiotus americtmu-'', Paramfpciu, 

 and many more minute flagellate Monads (some or all of them) might be expected 

 in every lichen, in short, compact, growing mosses, and in fact wherever a crypto- 

 gam can be found. 



The temperature was below freezing when the first lichens were collected, and 

 had been lo° below zero a few days earlier, but upon soaking the lichens for a 

 minute or two in about as much water as they would absorb, and sijueezing into a 

 small dish and transferring two or three drops (dregs and all) with the dipping 

 tube to a slip or cell, it was generally found that some or all of these strangely 

 domiciled animals had already resumed the functions and activities of life. 



A few of these microscopic animals had become i^uite familiar as denizens of 

 almost every ditch and pool in the land, but the astonishment was scarce greater 

 at finding such creatures in such a habitat than at the great variety and vast num- 

 bers of them on exhibition. 



On March 22 a lichen about IxlJ inches, pared from the upper edge of a 

 fence board, yielded 203 rotifers, besides other living forms. 



Examination was not resumed until December -4, when a lichen about lix I5 

 inches, yielded 69 rotifers, 18 water eels, 7 water bears, several Paramivcium and 

 many minute flagelate protozoa. 



