HISTOEY OF L.ITEEATUEE CONCEENING THE EOTIFEEA. 



17 



(i) how tbe Eotiferon, when drawn up into a ball, resists the persistent baking of a summer's 

 sun on the housetop, or the long drought of twenty-one months on the naturalist's desk, 

 without parting with its own internal moisture ; and (ii) why only eighteen or nineteen 

 of his Eotifera (those near the coarse sand) succeeded in rolling themselves up and sur- 

 viving, while the rest perished. 1 



The investigations thus worthily begun by Leuwenboek were carried on with much 

 spirit by many other observers ; and, during the hundred and thirty-five years that 

 elapsed before the publication of Ehrenberg's famous work, " Die Infusionsthierchen," 

 no fewer than sixty of Ehrenberg's species, contained in thirty of his genera, were 

 entered on the list of known Eotifera. 



I have arranged the more striking forms of these in the following table, which 

 classifies them under the heads of some of the families into which I have divided the 

 Eotifera ; 2 and I have added the names and dates of their discoverers ; it will be thus 

 seen how wide a ground had been covered by the early naturalists, since more than 

 half the families have representatives in the table. 



A List of some of the Eotifera discovered before 1838. 



Flosculakiad.h 



Melicertae.'e 



Philodinad.e 

 Hydatinad.e 



SyNCH.ETAD/E 

 NoTOMNATAD^E 



tkiabthrad.e 



Beachionid.e 



pteuodinad/e 

 euciilanid.e 



RaTTULID/E . 

 DlNOCHAEID.E 



( Stephanoeeros Eichhornii 



1 Floscularia ornata 



/ Melicerta ringena . 



', Limnias ceratophylli . 



J Laoinularia socialis 



1 Megalotrocha alboflavicans . 



I Rotifer macrurus . 



I Philodina roseola . 



Hydatina senta 



Syncha?ta Baltiea . 



Notommata tigris . 



Triarthra longiseta 



(Brachionus pala . 

 Brachionus urceolaris . 

 Anuvma striata 

 Pterodina patina . 

 Euchlanis dilatata 

 Mastigocerca carinata . 

 I Dinocharis pocillum 

 t Stephanops lamellaris . 



Eichhorn, 1761 

 Eichhorn, 1707 

 Leuwenhoek, 1703 

 Leuwenhoek, 1703 

 Brady, 1755 

 Rosel, 1755 

 Baker, 1753 

 Leuwenhoek, 1702 

 Mffller, 1773 

 Baster, 1759 

 Midler, 1786 

 Eichhorn, 1775 

 Joblot, 1718 

 Hill, 1751 

 Midler, 1776 

 Eichhorn, 1775 

 Eichhorn, 1775 

 Midler, 1786 

 Miiller, 1776 

 Midler, 1786 



It will be seen that the names of Eichhorn and Miiller occur much more frequently 

 than that of any other observer hi this list, and their works on the Eotifera deserve, 

 I think, a special notice. 



JOHANN CONRAD EICHHORN was the pastor of St. Catharine's church at Danzig, 

 and his book on the " Natural History of the Smallest Aquatic Animals " 3 was published 

 in 1781. Though small, it is a most interesting work. He gives figures and descriptions of 

 about a dozen Eotifera that can be identified, including Stephanoeeros, Floscularm , 

 Melicerta, Triarthra, Dinocharis, Actinur us, Euchlanis, and Pterodina; and of most of 

 his species he was the discoverer. 



His enthusiasm is delightful. " I have devoted myself," he says, " to this invisible 

 world, which yields itself to our ken only under the magnifying glass ; and I have, for 

 eleven years, spent my leisure moments on it, so far as my professional duties would 

 permit, in order to know God in His smallest and invisible works ; and I have found 

 Him very great therein. Not the great works only, those vast heavenly bodies— 



1 The question will be found fully discussed farther on in the general account of the family 

 Philodinadre. 



2 See chap. III. On the Classification of the Rotifera. 



3 Beitriigc zitr Naturgcschichte der Meinsten WassertMere. 



C 



