ROTIFERS 



453 



fix themselves to extraneous substances ; while the cilia 

 is in Tapid motion, this prevents the anterior portion of 

 the body being drawn in by the force of the rotatory 



I, The common Wheel-Animalcule, Rotifer vulgaris, with its cilia 

 6, protruded ; c, its horn ; d, oesophagus ; e, gut ; /, outer case ; g, eggs. 2, Tlu 

 same in a contracted state, and at rest: at gis seen the development of tlw 

 young. 3, Pitcher-shaped Brachionus: a, its jaws; 6, shell; c, cilia, or rota- 

 tors : d. tail. 4. Baker's Brachionus : a, the jaws and teeth ; b, the shell ; i% 

 the cilia ; c, the stomach. 



action. They multiply by eggs ; a few have been seen to 

 bring forth their young alive. In the atmosphere the eggs 

 have been discovered whirling along by the force of the 

 wind to some resting-place, where, when circumstances 

 admit, they spring into active life, and fulfil their appointed 

 destiny. The eggs are of an oval form, and some ten, 

 twenty, or thirty may be seen in an animal, of a brown 

 colour, others are of a delicate pink and deep golden yel- 

 Icur. In those ^f a light colour, the young are sometimes 



