JOUKNAL 



OF THE 



ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



AUGUST, 1906. 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 



IX. — Contribution to our Knowledge of the Botifera of 

 South Africa. 



By Charles F. Rousselet, Curator and F.R.M.S. 



(Bead March 21, 1906.) 



Plates XIV. and XV. 



South Africa is the country of big game, big distances, and big 

 things generally, so that very small creatures such as Rotifera have 

 a poor chance of being noticed, and, indeed, seem to have been 

 almost entirely neglected or passed over by naturalists, travellers, 

 and by the Afrikanders themselves — possibly because they do not 

 afford sufficient sport for shooting, or for the line, or because they 

 do not possess skins, or carry horns or tusks which might be nailed 

 on the wall as trophies. And yet the Rotifera form a not incon- 

 siderable part of the fauna of that vast country. 



The very first mention of a Rotifer in South Africa, as far as I 

 can discover, is contained in a paper published in 1891 by Fleet- 

 Surgeon V. Gunson Thorpe, R.N. (19),* describing a new species, 



* The numbers in brackets refer to the Bibliography at the end. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE XIV. 



Fig. 1. — Bracliionus furculatiis Thorpe, x 130. 

 „ 2. — „ „ ,. Variety with only one posterior spine. 



x 130. 

 „ 3. — „ „ „ Variety with reduced spines, x 130. 



„ 4. — „ ,, var. inermis Rousselet. x 150. 



„ 5. — „ „ Thorpe. Lorica of male, dorsal side, x 180. 



,, 5a. — „ ,, „ „ ,, ventral side, x 180. 



„ 6. — Cathypna leontina Turner, x 250. 



Aug. 15th, 1906 2 d 



