232 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [July 



is thrust out ahead, and the case is drag-g^ed up to it and 

 adheres by, its roug-hness until the body can be ag^ain 

 thrust forward about half its length, when the case is ag"ain 

 "hitched" forward. The masticated wool may be seen in 

 the intestine ; the pieces are liberal in size, which seems to 

 indicate a very robust digestible tract. A mass of stored 

 up fat may be seen at the posterior extremity of the body. 

 This worm is able to make muscle, fat, blood and moisture 

 out of the dry wool fibres. S. G. S. 



Bog Moss Leaves. — The bog- mosses are widely distri- 

 buted in cooler climates, being- the chief source of peat and 

 turf deposits. They keep moist for very long- periods, 

 preserving- the water in the bog-s when the surrounding- 

 country is completely dried up. The cells of the leaf are 

 of two kinds: (1) narrow elongated cells filled with chloro- 

 phyll, the so-called ducts, and(2)larg-e empty cells stiffened 

 by spiral or annular thickening's, and perforated by larg-e 

 pores which communicate with the exterior. These larg-e 

 cells are called the utricles; they retain the water for a 

 g-reat leng-th of time, and serve as homes for various 

 worms, rotifers, amoebae, etc., some of which may be seen 

 in a slide. A. P. Brown. 



Statoblasts ("winter eggs") of Pectinatella.^ — These 



are not eg-gs, since they cannot be traced to a sing-le cell. 



A statoblast is formed by the separation of a mass of cells 



within the tissue of the Bryozoan ; this mass cannot be 



traced back to any one cell, hence it is not an eg-g-, or a 



developing- eg-g-, but is to be regarded morpholog-ically as 



a bud, an internal one to be sure, which surrounds itself 



with a thick double cellular coating-, and passes the winter 



in this shape. The statement in most text-books that the 



statoblasts are parthenogenetic eg-g-s has been absolutely 



disproved. If at the time when they are beginning- to form, 



transverse sections be made, of the colony, these cell 



masses may be clearly made out in the funiculus, and the 



stages in their formation may be followed. 



Henry B. Ward. 



The Water Mites (Hydrachnidae). — These acquatic 



