FLOSCULAPJAD.K. 63 



No male has as yet been recorded, but Leydig's fig. 3. Taf. i. (loc. cit.), of a young 

 StcpJianoceros forced out of the egg by pressure, has a very masculine look about it. 



Disease. — Mr. Gosse (" Popular Sci. Eev." loc. cit.) has noticed that Stephanoceros 

 will occasionally throw off portions of one or more of its lobes, which slough away so as 

 to be reduced to mere stumps. As Mr. Gosse remarks, there is little doubt that Perty's 

 S. glacialis [loc. cit.) is only such an unhealthy specimen of ,$'. Eichhomii. I have 

 seen the same thing ; and I have noticed that, when a portion of the lobe sloughed off, 

 the discarded piece would round itself into a globe, and float away urged by the fitful 

 lashing of the seta? on it. 1 



Length, t,' t to T ' y inch. Habitat. On weeds in clear ponds in the neighbour- 

 hood of London (P.H.G.); of Birmingham (T.B.) ; in marsh pools on Sphagnum, 

 Perthshire (J.H.). Very partially distributed; not uncommon about London and 

 Birmingham, but rare in Scotland, and very rare apparently in America. Widely 

 spread on the Continent. 



1 Mr. Newlin Peirce (loc. cit.) has written a strange account of a Stephanoceros that accumulated a 

 mass of dibris in the upper portion of its tube ; and then, dividing itself transversely at the level of 

 the di'bris, deserted its tube, carrying the accumulation with it, and attached itself to another stem of 

 the plant to which it was originally fastened. Here it gradually became a perfect animal in a new 

 tube ; and it then repeated the process. The whole account is incomprehensible. 



