Marvels of Pond-Life. 103 



at the will of the creature, and tlicir motion ajipcars 

 under control, and susceptible of greater modification 

 than is exhibited by the ordinary infusoria. 



The Stephanoceros is a member of tlie Floscule 

 family, but in all the specimens I obtained and watched 

 for several weeks, there was an important dilfcrcnce in 

 the relation of the tube to the creature. In the Flos- 

 cules I had never seen anything like an adhesion 

 between the tube and the animal, but in the Stephano- 

 ceros I noticed it continually, and always in the manner 

 already described. Like the Floscule, the Stephano- 

 ceros is readily alarmed, and retreats into her house, 

 carrying with her the invaginated portion. In the last 

 edition of ' Pritchard^s Infusoria,' this case is spoken of 

 as apparently not tubular, but a solid gelatinous mass, 

 enveloping the animal as high up as the base of the 

 rotatory arms. It is very likely that specimens at 

 different ages, and possibly in different seasons, may 

 vary in the structure of their abodes; but I am not 

 able to concur in the preceding account, as all the 

 tubes I examined resembled sacks turned in at the 

 mouths, and attached to the shoulders only of their 

 inmates ; and on one occasion I was able to look down 

 into a deserted tube, which liad not collapsed, as it 

 would have done if it had been merely a solid gelatinous 

 mass. 



Like the Floscule, the Stephanoceros only reveals 

 her beauties under careful illumination. A direct light 

 renders them invisible, and only when the requisite 

 obliquity has been obtained, does the exquisite char- 

 acter of the structure become displayed. The dark- 



