The Rotifera of South Africa. By Charles F. Rousselet. 407 



These two lists, containing 38 different species, being the result 

 of the first and very inadequate exploration of the Zambesi river, 

 show that this great stream has a rich Eotatorian fauna. The 

 species of this remote region, with a single exception, are all 

 identical with known forms from Europe and other parts of the 

 world, and this fact corroborates in a remarkable way the very 

 wide and uniform distribution of the Rotifera. 



The single exception is a soft-bodied Notommatoid Eotifer, 

 possibly of the genus Pleurotrocha, having a large cervical eye, 

 ample and folded foot, cylindrical toes of fair size, and jaws which 

 are unlike those of any species I am acquainted with. The two 

 specimens found are, however, so inadequately preserved that it is 

 impossible to give a sufficient drawing and description, and so I 

 prefer to leave it unnamed at present, merely reproducing my 

 drawing of the characteristic jaws (PI. XV. fig. 4). 



All the Anurcea of the Zambesi have this peculiarity, that the 

 facets of the lorica are almost wholly obliterated, and replaced in 

 the varieties of A. cochlearis by very fine stipples, uniformly 

 spread all over the surface, thus corresponding to Lauterborn's 

 var. hispida ; the variety which I call " robusta," after Lauter- 

 born (14), possesses a very stout, short spine, broad at the base, 

 but only a faint keel ridge, bifurcating anteriorly, otherwise it is 

 finely stippled like hispida, and entirely free from facets. Anurcea 

 aculeata var. valga has a shell of glassy transparency without a 

 trace of facets or stipples. Nowhere else in South Africa or 

 Europe have I seen this peculiarity in Anurcea. 



My collections from the Zambesi contained also numerous 

 Desmids and Diatoms, and Mr. W. West has enumerated 21 

 species on two slides which I made. 



On the following morning, September 13, I explored the rock- 

 pools in the river bed on the south shore, close above the Falls, 

 and found a new fresh-water Sponge adhering to the under-surface 

 of stones, which has since been described by Mr. E. Kirkpatrick 

 before the Zoological Society under the name of Spongilla Rousseleti. 

 I also captured here a blue fresh- water crab of the genus Telfusa 

 or Potamon. 



In the afternoon of the same day we started on our return 

 journey, reaching Bulawayo next morning, and starting again the 

 same evening for Salisbury and Beira. No opportunity for collect- 

 ing occurred on the journey through Mashonaland, the stoppages 

 at stations being very short. Wishing, however, to bring back 

 something from this part of the country, when we arrived at 

 Norton Station, an hour and a half before reaching Salisbury, I 

 put my net under the hose which had been feeding the engine and 

 allowed the water from the railway water-tank to run through it 

 for five minutes ; in this way I obtained a tube of material in 



