42 THE EOTIFEEA. 



more slowly. I at last picked the sheltering material to pieces with needles in order to 

 be quite sure of the species : for I had not yet had one satisfactory view of it at this 

 time. Yet even then it kept obstinately under the floccose, refusing to come out into 

 the open, even when its tube was torn up." On another occasion, lately, a striking 

 illustration of the fierce appetite of this carnivorous creature occurred to me. One in 

 the live-box was driving to and fro in its eager headlong way, when its course was 

 suddenly arrested. A Nais worm had been wounded, probably by the pliers in taking 

 up the milfoil from the phial, and a cloud of the pale flesh-granules had oozed, and was 

 still oozing, out of its side. The Furcularia, aimlessly swimming, had come to the out- 

 side of this cloud, and its whole manner was changed instantly. It darted at the mass, 

 snapped and snapped again, turning hither and thither, but not leaving the vicinity. 

 The sharp rapid momentary projections of the head and of the jaws showed how 

 heartily it was enjoying its unexpected meal. This went on for some time ; but I was 

 called away, and was compelled to leave my hungry little friend at his dinner. P.H.G.J 

 Length, - e \ inch to y^ inch. Habitat. Around London, Dundee, Birmingham, 

 Hants, Devonshire, and elsewhere (P.H.Gr) : by no means rare. 



F. ORACILIS, Ehrenbertj. 



(PI. XIX. fig. 14.) 

 Furcularia gracilis .... Ehrenberg, Die In/us. 1838, p. 421, Taf. xlviii. fig. G. 



[SP. CH. Body slender, compressed, the ventral line making a prominent angle; 

 front rounded; face oblique; toes slender, straight, acute. 



This well-marked little species is of slender form, as its name imports, nearly equal- 

 sided, somewhat compressed, occasionally gibbous at the hind-back, the outline of the 

 belly concave, with a salient angle about two-thirds from the head, whence it abruptly 

 recedes to the short conical foot. The front is rather small, rounded ; the face 

 obliquely prone, ample, clothed throughout with cilia. The joints of the foot are 

 not readily separable ; the toes, furcate, slender, acute rods, almost straight, are about 

 one-fourth as long as the body, and are usually carried parallel. The eye is small, but 

 conspicuous, of a vivid crimson, situate as usual in the middle of the very front, at the 

 anterior extremity of the brain. A little wart-like projection is seen on the occiput, 

 which is probably an antenna. The mastax is long and pear-shaped, containing a 

 strongly forcipate incus, of which the fulcrum is evanescent, with a pair of long incurved 

 mallei. The rami seem to reach over in a long descending pair of points, probably 

 accessory to, but distinct from, the glassy rami themselves. The latter are frequently 

 protruded from the oblique face, to bite the flocculent matter, adhering to the moss, 

 and to seize atoms with a short snapping action. 



I obtained this species in some abundance, near London, in my early researches, 

 among the stems and bracts of a submerged moss. Since that time, it has occurred in 

 widely separated localities, never with any notable variation. Its manners are active, 

 writhing nimbly along with the toes stretched out behind, but now and then, for an 

 instant, widely expanded. P.H.G.] 



Length, -*k <t - inch to yl, inch. Habitat. Pools, wide-spread; London; Stapleton 

 Park, Yorkshire ; Woolston ; Caversham ; Cheltenham ; Dundee ; Oban (P.H.G.). 



F. C^CA, Gosse. 

 (PI. XX. fig. 4.) 

 Furcularia cceca ..... Gosse, Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. viii. 1851. 



[SP. CH. Body cylindrical, the ventral line straight ; front round ; head separated 

 by a strong constriction ; eye wanting or invisible ; toes slender, slightly recurved, 

 obtuse. 



