28 THE EOTIFEEA. 



Jobed and bears a great red eye ; two smaller red spots are borne on prominences in the 

 front of the head ; and on each side of the body, about the middle, is a rocket-shaped 

 antenna, like those in Hydatina senta. A contractile vesicle, lateral canals, vibratile 

 tags, and ovary are also present. 



Herr Eckstein says that this creature preys on other Rotifera ; and he vividly de- 

 scribes how he has seen a Monostyla drawn by the vortex of elonyata's cilia into its 

 buccal funnel, and there slit up by the teeth and devoured. 



Length, T ^ inch. Habitat. Berlin (Ehr.). 



E. CAEIB^EA, Schmarda (135). See note 1, Sup*, p. 8. 



DIGLENA CONUEA, Ehrenberg (42), (PL XXXIII. fig. 11). 



SP. CH. Body ovately oblong, front transversely truncate, the hinder part of the 

 body gradually diminishing to a conical foot. 



This Diglena somewhat resembles catellina, but lacks its plump, dorsal rotundity. 

 The foot, too, is differently placed ; being in a line with the long axis of the body, instead 

 of being placed veiitrally beneath it. The only difference (according to Ehrenberg) in 

 the internal structure is that the gastric glands are almost hemispherical, while those of 

 catellina are spherical. 



Length, T ^ inch. Habitat. Berlin (Ehr.). 



DIGLENA CAPITATA, Ehrenberg (42), (PI. XXXIII. fig. 12). 



SP. CH. Body oblong, conical, with an obliquely truncate and dilated front, gradu- 

 ally diminishing behind to two long, and apparently baseless, toes. 



Ehrenberg says but little of this species, which is mainly distinguished by its broad 

 head, conical body, and long toes. These latter seem to spring at once, without the 

 interposition of a single joint, from the base of the body itself. The mastax is long ; 

 the mallei one-toothed ; the gastric glands spherical. 



Length, ^-^ inch. Habitat. Near Berlin (Ehr.). 



DIGLENA AQUILA, Gosse (171), (PI. XXXI. fig. 20). 



[SP. CH. Body fusiform ; head furnished with a beak ; foot short , thick ; toes 

 nearly as long as trunk, thick to half-length, then diminished to stiff, straight rods with 

 obtuse points, 



The long, straight, blunt toes are very characteristic. The proboscis is a broad 

 shield, somewhat as in Stcphanorjs, permanent, surrounded by a ring of very long vibra- 

 tile cilia. It forms, indeed, a hooked beak, shaped like that of an eagle, the edges of 

 which converging to a point (fig. 20 c) are distinctly visible from above, through its 

 hyaline substance. 



In manners it is headstrong, abrupt, vigorous ; most restless, never pursuing one 

 course more than an instant, but suddenly stopping, and turning round on itself, 

 augmenting its speed greatly for a moment, rushing, or rather shooting, forward for three 

 or four times its length, then again and again, but never springing sidewise. I first 

 received it from the middle of Ireland, by the kindness of Mr. Hood junr. ; then in a 

 pond near my own residence ; and on several occasions since. It bears a very close 

 resemblance to a species discovered by Mr. E.G. Bousfield, of which he courteously sent 

 me a drawing, under the name of Notommata rapax. This has two conspicuous styles 

 (antennae ?) projecting straight from the head, which I do not see in D. aquila. If, 

 however, the two are identical, his specific name has the priority. None of my earlier 

 examples showed any trace of an eye-spot ; but I have met with a specimen, in another 

 missive from Mr. Hood junr., in which was conspicuous a very large black occipital eye, 

 if, indeed, it was not an opaque chalk-mass of the brain. 



Length, ,.' . inch. Habitat. Babbacombe ; Ireland. P.H.G.] 



