WHEEL-BEARERS 275 - 



elegant in its form. When swimming, it glides with con- 

 siderable swiftness through the water, turning frequently 

 on its course, and often partially revolving on its long 

 axis. When enclosed, as is often the case, by two frag- 

 ments of the filamentous Chara, it travels along the sides 

 of its enclosure, nibbling, as it goes, the floccose and sedi- 

 mentary deposits on the surfaces of the leaves. The long 

 spine-foot is commonly carried inertly after it; when the 

 animal suddenly turns, of course the tail is bent at the 

 basal joint, but it is not habitually whisked about, as is 

 the tail of Brachionus, nor is it so much used as a support 

 or turning point. The animal has the power of so using 

 it, however, and of adhering with considerable force to 

 the glass of the box or the side of a phial, by its point. 



We have hitherto looked at our Rotifera by transmitted 

 light, and their crystalline transparency renders them beau- 

 tiful objects when thus exhibited. But we will now look 

 at the Whiptail by the direct light of the sun upon it, con- 

 densed, but not to a burning point, by the bull's-eye lens. 



It now possesses a peculiar beauty of another character. 

 The body generally is colorless as a vase of glass, but re- 

 flects the rays brightly from its polished surface. An ad- 

 vancing egg in the ovary is opaque white, as is the front 

 part of the mastax; the stomach and intestine filled with 

 vegetable matter are of a yellow-green; the rotating head 

 appears of a pale blue, and the eye shines out as a speck 

 of opaque vermilion. 



With the dipping- tube I will now take up a drop of 

 water from the bottom of the Cftara-jar, allowing a little 

 of the loose sediment to flow in also. This is a random 

 cast; we know not what we may get, though we are pretty 

 sure to catch something. Now then for the examination. 



