304 Miscellaneous. 



On the Rotatoria of the Nei'jhhourliood of Tubingen. 

 Ey Samttel Bartsch. 



The author notices the species of Eotatoria obtained by him in the 

 neighbourhood of Tiibingen, mentioning any peculiarities observed 

 by him, and discussing the views of previous authors. He com- 

 mences with a sketch of the bibliography of the subject, in which 

 the principal authorities are mentioned, and then gives a general 

 account of the structure of the animals belonging to this class, 

 which forms a useful summary of our present knowledge. With 

 regard to the systematic position of the Rotatoria, the author adopts 

 Hackel's notion, according to which they belong to the great Arti- 

 culate stem, forming a small branch from the same point whence 

 the two great branches of the Vermes and Arthropoda diverge. 



As the author establishes three new families and one new genus, 

 we here give an abstract of his classification. 



(Order) I. E]NT:ER0DELA. 

 With a stomach, intestine, and anus. 



Fam. 1. Flosculariiue, Bartsch. 

 ( = Tiibicolari/ta, Cams, =Monotrocha and Schizotrochn, Ehrenb.) 



Form clavate ; foot long, annulated ; ciliary organ like the corolla 

 of a flower ; usually sedentary animals, placed in a sheath. There 

 appears to be no reason for giving a new name to this gi'oup. 



The author notices species of Floscularia and Melicerta. Of the 

 former he states that the rotary organ is always five-lobed, and 

 that the cilia move during the unfolding of the lobes or when a 

 living organism approaches them. The habits of Melicerta ringens 

 are described at considerable length. 



Fam. 2. Hydatinaea, Ehr. (s. str.). 



Body-envelope saccular, soft, varying in form from cylindrical to 

 conical ; foot and its terminal styles short, in part not retractile, 

 Genera noticed : Hydatina, Pleurotrocha, Sijnchata, Notoniraata, and 

 Digleiui. 



In Hydatina senta the author finds attached to the brain, at the 

 points where the nerves running to the two cei'vical palpi are given 

 off", two pedunculate vesicles, consisting of a very thin envelope en- 

 closing finely granular contents, in which about half a dozen orange- 

 red globules are suspended. During the movements of the animal, 

 these vesicles oscillate to and fro ; and the author suggests that they 

 may be auditory vesicles. The cilia on the interior of the rotary 

 organ extend down to the gizzard. Eosphora (Ehr.) is combined 

 mth Notommata, as by Leydig. 



Fam. 3. Lon^setaB, Bartsch. 



Skin soft or firm ; body varying in form from cylindrical to oval ; 

 foot very much reduced ; tcrjninal styles one or two, long, setiform. 



