100 Marvels of Pond-Life, 



stead ponds, we obtained from one, in September, that 

 was full of star- weed, a number of sugar-loaf bodies, 

 adhering to one another, and of a pale yellow brown 

 colour. The specimens first examined looked complete 

 in themselves, and were taken for eggs of some water 

 creature. Further search, however, disclosed aggrega- 

 tions of similar sugar-loaves that had evidently formed 

 part of a tubular structure, and the idea at once 

 occurred that they were fragments of a Melicerta tube, 

 a conclusion that was verified by finding some tubes 

 entire and a dead Melicerta in the rubbish at the 

 bottom. All the specimens of Melicerta tubes we had 

 hitherto examined were composed of rounded pellets, 

 but these were made of pointed cones or sugar-loaves, 

 with the points projecting outwards from the general 

 surface. In Pritchard^s ' Infusoria,' these pellets are 

 described " as small lenticular bodies." The ^ Micro- 

 graphic Dictionary' states that the tubes of the 

 Melicerta are composed of " numerous rounded or 

 discoidal bodies ;'' and Mr. Gosse, in his ' Tenby/ 

 which contains an admirable description, and an 

 exquisite drawing of this interesting rotifer, calls the 

 pellets '^ round." 



Not being able to obtain a living specimen of the 

 Melicerta, who made her tube of long sugar-loaves, I 

 could not tell whether she differed in structure from 

 the usual pattern of her race, but the general appear- 

 ance of the dead body was the same. It is possible 

 that these creatures possess some power of modifying 

 the form of their singular bricks, or they may at 

 different ages vary the patterns, which matters some 



