Rotifera of the Family Asplanchnidtfi, 31 



Lastly, the following is the description of a species which 

 has been communicated to me by M. Jules Richard, and 

 which I cannot refer to any known form. 



Asplanchna Girodi, sp. n. (Fig. 4.) 



Diagnosis. — Femina. Corpus globosum ; maxillte duobus tantum 

 ramis compositoe, elongatae, validoe ; rami apice bidentati, dentc 

 uno curvato, subobtuso, altero compresso, lamelloso. 



Mas ignotus. 



Long. 0-85, lat. 0-o5 mill. 



This Asplanchna, which must certainly attain a length of 

 1 millim. (the above measurements are taken from specimens 

 contracted in alcohol), is distinguished 

 among all its congeners by the lamellar T'ig. 4, 



tooth of its masticatory apparatus 

 (fig- 4). ^ 



Locality. Found first of all in small 

 quantities by M. J. Eichard in the 

 neighbourhood of Vichy (Allier) in the 

 pond of Cognet, on IGtli September, 



1886, this Rotifer has since been col- 

 lected by the same zoologist in Lake 

 Chambon (Puy-de-Dome) at an eleva- 

 tion of 880 metres, on 15th August, 



1887. I proposed at first to dedicate 

 this species to the young and zealous ,, . 



naturalist who discovered it ; but M. ^^'"ffwJ ''p.f.^^'}^ «f 

 iticharcl, by a sentiment which does him 500. 

 honour, has begged me to attach to it 

 the name of Dr. Girod, Professor in the Faculty of Sciences 

 of Clermont, under whose guidance his first work was per- 

 formed *. 



In the following table I have summarized, in an artificial 

 manner (\vhich, however, I have endeavoured to render clear 

 and practical), the principal characters of the known species of 

 the genus Asplanchna. It seemed to me that the distinctions 

 should as far as possible be derived from the masticatory 



* It is to the initiatiou of Dr. Girod that we owe the investigations at 

 present in progress upon the fauna of the Auvergne, investigations in the 

 course of which M. J. Richard has not only met with the Asplanchna 

 above described, but with many other interesting types, tlie lists of 

 which he will soon publish. 



