102 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[June, 



was interested to find, besides a 

 variety of species of Spirogyra, as 

 decitnina, fusco-atra, and Hantzschii, 

 all in good fruiting condition, masses 

 of Vaucheria gemifiata. On the fila- 

 ments of this plant, nests of rotifers 

 are of frequent occurrence. They 

 appear as urn-shaped excrescences, 

 cylindrical cells, outgrowths 

 of the plant, somewhat swol- 

 len below the middle, con- 

 tracted at the base, and dis- 

 tended at the truncate apex. 

 Some are at the ends of the 

 branchlets, eight to ten times 

 the diameter of the branch, 

 others grow out of the sides 

 of the larger filaments ; they 

 measure 200 mm. to 350 mm. 

 in diameter, about three times 

 the thickness of the plant. In 

 many of them the animals are 

 seen, usually in motion in the 

 lower part of the cells ; all 

 the cells contain many dull, 

 rose-colored eggs. The cells 

 are abnormal to the plant, 

 and are probably produced 

 by a sting or other irritation. 

 Nest of this kind are unusual 

 in my observations. I have 

 seen the creature carrying its 

 eggs : have found rotifer eggs 

 in vaucheria plants and know 

 them to have occurred in 

 the leaves oi Sphagnum (bog- 

 moss), but have not known 

 their power to produce such 

 uniform outgrowths for nests. 



F. WOLLE. 



Genus Cupelopagis* gen. nov. 

 Footless, eyeless, without carapace, 

 and totally destitute of cilia or other 

 vibratile structures, or locomotor or- 

 gans of any kind. The trochal disk 

 has the form of a large, oblique cup, 

 which can be either retracted wholly, 

 or pushed up by a constriction of its 



A Remarkable New 

 Rotifer. 



BY S. A. FORBES. 



In a neglected aquarium 

 in the Natural History Laboratory at 

 Normal, 111., the glass became covered 

 with a coating of algae, among which 

 swarmed stentors and several species 

 of rotifers. The largest and most 

 abundant of the latter is of a charac- 

 ter so peculiar and remarkable as 

 to merit description. 



Fig. Z'i.—Cufelopaffts hucinedax^ lateral view X 265. Drawn 

 with camera lucida. 



a, cup; b, oesophagus; r, crop; rf, mast ax ; ?, stomach; y, 

 vent ; g^ embryos ; A, problematical, black, or dark-brown bodies, 

 irregular in form and position, situated in the perivisceral cavity. 



wide mouth. In the bottom of this 

 cup is the oral aperture, which opens 

 into a very large, loose crop, at the 

 bottom of which, and usually behind 

 the middle of the body, is the mas- 

 tax. The jaws, which project into the 



* KxTzOlov and na^T<:. 



