DIPLOMASTIX. 



[ 266 ] 



DISCOMYCETES. 



wards, but little visible from above. Body 

 elliptical, depressed, bright red, sometimes 

 marbled with dark brown spots, from the 

 digestive organs being visible through the 

 integument. Eyes four, at the very anterior 

 margin, so best seen from beneath. Inte- 

 gument finely granular, without hairs. Legs 

 red. Length 1-25". 



D. mendax. Two clear longitudinal rays 

 at the fore part of the body. 



BIBL. Duges, Ann. Sc. Nat. 2 ser. i. 148. 



DIPLOMAS'TIX, Kent. A genus of 

 Flagellate Infusoria. 



Char. Ovate, free, colourless, variable; 

 flagella 2, one vibratile, the other trailing ; 

 mouth distinct. 



Three species ; salt and fresh water. 



BIBL. Kent, Inf. 431. 



DIPLO'MITA, Kent. A genus of Fla- 

 gellate Infusoria. 



Char. Solitary, ovate, attached by a re- 

 tractile filament to the base of a stalked 

 horny lorica, flagella two, alike j eye-spot 

 sometimes present ; no mouth. 



D. sociahs. Brownish, length 1-1600" j 

 pond-water. 



BIBL. Kent, Inf. 259. 



DIPLONE'IS, Ebr. = Navicula with the 

 valves constricted in the middle. 



DIPLOZO'ON, Nordm. A genus of 

 Trematode Entozoa. 



Char. Body of individuals soft, elongated 

 and flattened; united in pairs by their fusion 

 near the middle, thus resembling an X ; 

 each body terminated posteriorly by a trans- 

 verse, oval, or almost quadrilateral expan- 

 sion, furnished with four suctorial disks. 

 Mouth terminal, anterior, accompanied by 

 two oblong suctorial disks. 



D.paradoxum, the double animal. Found 

 upon the gills of freshwater fishes, as the 

 carp, the roach, the bream, &c. Length 

 1-6 to 1-5". or twice this length. 



The separate individuals (Diporpa, Du- 

 jardin) are smaller than those in a state of 

 conjugation (length 1-100 to 1-45"), and 

 contain no trace of reproductive organs. 

 Ova formed in each individual after the 

 conjugation; they are yellow, with the 

 shell narrowed and prolonged into a fila- 

 mentous spiral or coil. 



BIBL. Nordmann, Mikr. Beit. 1832, i. 

 56; Ann. Sc. Nat. 1833, xxx. ; Ehrenberg, 

 Wiegmanrfs Archiv, 1835, ii. 128 ; Mayer, 

 An.d.Entoz. 23;Siebold, Sieb. u. Koll. Zeits. 

 iii. 62; Vogt, Mutter's Archiv, 1841,33. 



DIPODI'NA, Ehr. A genus of Rotato- 

 ria. Differs from Notommata by a particu- 



lar constriction of its tarsal nippers or toes. 

 At Wismar. (Pritchard, Inf. 713.) 



DIPOR'ULA, Hincks. A genus of 

 Cheilostomatous Polyzoa. 



D. verrucosa ; Cornwall. (Hincks,P<%zo, 

 220.) 



DIP'TERA. The seventh order of IN- 

 SECTS, containing the " flies," &c. 



DIRI'NA, Fr. A genus ofLichenaceoua 

 Lichens, tribe Lecanorei. 



D. ceratonicB (fig. 26, p. 65). 



D. repanda. Occurs in Jersey. 



BIBL. Leighton, Lich. Fl. G. B. p. 226. 



DISCELIA'CE^. A family of opercu- 

 late Acrocarpous Mosses, of gregarious ha- 

 bit, very dwarf and stemless, arising from a 

 green prothallium spreading on the ground. 

 The sheathing leaves are appressed, oblong, 

 acuminate and nerveless, composed of cells 

 lax at the base and apex, rhomboidally pa- 

 renchymatous, destitute of chlorophyll, 

 fuscescent and empty. Capsule subglobose 

 and inclined, with a short collum, anim ate 

 and long-stalked. The antheridial and ar- 

 chegonial flowers are upon the same runner 

 of the prothallium. British genus : 



DISCE'LIUM, Brid. Calyptra longish, 

 very narrow, split almost to the summit, 

 wider in the middle, with the margin invo- 

 lute on each side at the base. Peristome 

 simple, of sixteen lanceolate teeth, fissile 

 in the middle, trabeculate, striate, cartila- 

 ginous, reddish or orange. 



BIBL. Wilson, Bryot. Brit. 286 ; Berke- 

 ley, Handb. 167. 



DISCEL'LA, Berk. andBr. A genus of 

 Sphseronemei (Stylosporous Fungi), forming 

 scattered, disk-like, dark spots upon twigs ; 

 at first covered by the epidermis, which 

 afterwards splits and separates. Five spe- 

 cies are described, occurring on the willow, 

 lime, plane, and elder. 



BIBL. Berk, and Broome, Ann. N. H. 

 2 ser. v. 376, pi. 12. fig. 8 ; Berkeley, Outl. 

 322. 



DISCOCEPH'ALUS, E. A genus of 

 Infusoria, of the family Euplota. 



Char. Head distinct from the body; hooks 

 present, but neither styles nor teeth. 



D. rotatorius (PL 30. fig. 44). Hyaline, 

 flat, rounded at each end ; head narrower 

 than the body; length 1-380". Red Sea. 

 Imperfectly examined. 



BIBL. Ehr. Infus. p. 375. 



DISCOMYCE'TES. The name of one 

 of the families of Fungi under Fries's clas- 

 sification, including the HELVELLACEI and 

 PHACIDIACEI of the ASCOMYCETES. 



