18 THE EOTIFEEA. 



T. SAXrXDEBSLE, GoSSB, Sp. HOT. 



cp\. xvn. fig. 11.) 



Taphrocatnpa Sawtdersia . . Hudson, J. Boij. ilicr. Soc. 2 Ser. vol. v. 1885, p. 614, pi. xii. 



[SP. CH. Body lengthened, fusiform, annulate; brain clear; a decurved frontal 

 hood; tico eyes (?l; a distinct tail; foot and furcate toes of normal form. 



Many examples of this form occurred to my observation in the floecose sediment of 

 water, very rich in Eotiferous life, which was sent me by Miss Samiders of Cheltenham, 

 in May 1885, dipped from a tank which she had used as a preserve of living Eotifera. 

 But Dr. Hudson had observed the same species in water from Birmingham, in July 

 1884 ; and had prepared a notice of it for the " Joum. Roy. Mic. Soc." The pubUcation 

 was delayed, however, through press of matter, tUl the following spring. It is a very 

 distinct species, less abnormal than T. annulosa, more manifestly Notommatous in its 

 affinities. 



The body is divided into well-marked rings, about seven or eight, not so numerous 

 as in annulosa; each of which rises to what seems a sharp edge; but momentary 

 glimpses, which one has as it turns aroimd the weeds, show a number (not only four) of 

 conical points (perhaps about eight in the dorsal half) in the transverse section (as at 

 fig. 116 1, the expression of as many series of conical elevations running down the whole 

 (possibly dorsal and lateral) surface. The head is rather large, and sub-globose (fig. 11), 

 and seems permanent in outline ; as the restless animal twists and turns itself about con- 

 stantly, causing much change of diameter, the head remaining undiminished, the neck 

 (so to speak I becomes conspicuously slender, to be filled up by the nest contraction, in 

 an instant. Very frequent retractation of the hind parts towards the head occurs. There 

 is a marked diminution in these parts, the ultimate segment bearing two moderately 

 short diverging toes ; the penult or antepenult segment sending forth a distinct conical 

 projection, which follows the general direction of the body, and may be called a tail, 

 ■with more breadth than depth, much as in Notomm. tripus, X. pilarius, and others 

 (fig. 11a). The front of the head bears a projection, which, on a lateral vievi (fig. 11a), 

 looks hke a proboscis, and often like a sharp hook, bent fomard and downward ; yet I 

 think it has considerable width, and Dr. Hudson has found it to be a broad arched 

 hood. Just behind this organ, and so on the very front of the globose head, are a 

 pair of minute colourless globtiles, quite conspicuous in all aspects, which may be 

 eye-spots. The mastaz consists of two stout, curved, pointed teeth, capable of being 

 widely expanded and closed, like the blades of scissors (fig. 11) ; these appear based on 

 an oblong transparent body, probably the muscular bulb requisite for motion. The 

 points can be brought to the edge of the front.' The front is obhque ; it is composed 

 of several fleshy eminences, each bearuig a crown of cilia, whose vibrations I have 

 distinctly seen, though they do not appear to constitute a disk or rota. The animal's 

 motion in the free wat«r, a smooth and rather swift gUding, is doubtless produced by 

 these frontal ciUa. Accirrat-e observation, with the high powers required by its minute- 

 ness, is very difficult from its incessant restlessness ; as it ghdes through the open, it 

 is constantly contracting and extending the body ; at the nearest atom of sediment it 

 pauses, but instantly throws itself into rapid contortions. A long stomach, capable of 

 much width where it proceeds from the mastax, reaches to the cloaca under the tail, 

 while a large ovary occupies the ventral region. The body is transparent, more or 

 less tinged with yellow. The stomach usually contains particles of dark food, sufficient 

 sometimes to impart a blackish hue to the body ; while the entire venter may be filled 

 with a dark egg. 



I have honoured this species with the name of Miss Saunders of Cheltenham — from 



' These seem to be the blades of an incus (of the pattern Fig. 21 of my memoir in Phil. Trans. 

 1656, pi. xvi.) : the mallei apparently quite aborted. 



