98 J. MURRAY 



Stranded Moraines, on the west side of Macmurdo Sound, they were plentiful, and 

 there were many eggs. 



These eggs differ from those got in the lakes, but not enough to cause us to 

 regard it as a distinct species. They are smaller and much thinner-shelled. The 

 shell is so thin that the rods which traverse it are scarcely longer than broad. They 

 do not seem viscous. The animal does not differ at all. The thinner-shelled eggs 

 may be summer eggs. 



The distribution of M. arcticus is peculiar. As far as our meagre knowledge 

 goes it is confined to the polar regions, but an egg of the thin-shelled form has been 

 got in a Scottish loch, and a similar egg, but smaller, in tropical Africa. In various 

 countries visited on the homeward voyage (New Zealand, Australia, Canada) an 

 animal was found which is almost certainly this species, as it has all the characters 

 of the adult, but as no eggs were found there is a certain doubt about the 

 identification. 



M. arcticus has only one near relative, M. hastatus, Murray (18), an inhabitant of 

 peat-bogs. Several Macrobioti are now known which have claws of the Diphascon 

 type, but only these two species have the peculiar eggs, studded with rods. 



Macrobiotus polaris, sp. n. (Plate XIV. Figs, lo-le) 



Specific characters. Large, hyaline, or old examples somewhat pigmented. 

 Gullet of intermediate width : teeth curved : pharynx shortly oval, with apophysis, 

 and three short rods and comma in each row. Claws slender, of hufelandi type, 

 very unequal, and united less than half-way. Eggs spherical : processes from 

 polygonal bases, varying from round to acuminate, separated by polygons of equal 

 size to their bases. Dark eyes. 



Detailed description. Length, up to 800 /x- The egg measures 75 M in diameter, 

 exclusive of the processes, and about 85 M over the rounded processes, or 95 M over 

 the pointed ones. A young one squeezed out of an egg was 250 /JL in length, which 

 is a very large animal to come from such a small egg, but it may have been slightly 

 elongated by pressure. The animal is somewhat narrow and elongated. The gullet 

 is about 4 n wide, with parallel sides, and bent out to form a narrow flange at the 

 end in the pharynx. The pharynx measures 36 M by 30 M- The three rods are of 

 nearly equal length and are rounded at the ends. They vary in length, according 

 to age, from 1^ to 2|- times as long as broad. The stomach is narrowed at both 

 ends, and consists of numerous cells, about twenty being in view at one time. The 

 fat-cells are small, 5 or 6 M in diameter. The body-fluid in old animals is pale 

 yellow, the stomach sienna-brown. 



The claws are unusually slender for a large animal of the hufelandi group. The 

 lesser claw of each pair is little more than half as long as the larger one. Only one 

 supplementary point could be seen on the long claw. 



