NOTOMMATAD.E. 31 



" tag." From each toe runs up a tliread, wliicli in the foot dilates into an ovate gland, 

 studded with minute vacuoles. Probably these are mucous glands : but no mucus- 

 strings were visible from the foot, nor any gelatinous envelope of the body, in all the 

 specimens (nearly a score) that I have examined. The brush of each occipital tentacle 

 (antenna) consists apparently of three, or at most four, setse ; each lumbar tentacle 

 carries but a single seta. Through all, lines are seen running down from the set;e to 

 the base. From the base of each lumbar tentacle the thread which descends from the 

 seta is distinctly seen to pass for some distance up the visceral cavity toward the brain, 

 till it can be no longer distinguished among the multitude of lines. On the other 

 hand, the thread issuing from the base of each antenna may be traced to the very 

 summit of the brain. 



This is, perhaps, the largest of all known Rotifera. Some among the Bhizota may 

 exceed it in length, a great part of which is occupied by the foot of almost linear tenuity. 

 But, bulk for bulk, Copeus sjncatus far exceeds them all. It is a noble, as well as a 

 very interesting, member of its class. Viewed on the stage of the microscope, we forget 

 that we are contemplating a speck, such as a lady's cambric needle might prick in a sheet 

 of paper, and are struck with what we are ready to call its gigantic dimensions. For, 

 with a half-inch objective, it almost crosses the round field of view, and with a quarter, 

 such as is needful to interpret the organization of the Eotifei'a, we are obliged to 

 examine it piecemeal ; for a large portion of the creature is necessarily beyond our vision. 

 Its great size, slow movement, and brilliant transparency make it a subject very favour- 

 able for observation. Perhaps this is the finest addition made to our knowledge of the 

 Eotifera since Ehrenberg's magnum opus. And we owe our acquaintance with it to Dr. 

 Hudson, who named, described, and figured it in the " Journ. Eoy. Micr. Soc." for 

 May 1885. It was discovered by Mr. Bolton, who sent hnn specimens, as he has lately 

 sent to me also, obtained from Sutton Park, Birmingham. — P.H.G.] ' 



Length (moderately extended), ^'^ inch ; width, y^^ inch. Habitat. Birmingham: 

 Coleshill (T.B.) ; Sandhurst (Dr. CoUins). ., 



C. PACHYURUS, Gosse, sp. nov. 

 (PI. XVI. fig. 4.) 



[SP. CH. Front furnished with a pair of long and thick auricles projectile and 

 retractile ; lumbar regions with tubules, destitute of seta ; tail saccate. 



The general accuracy of Prof. Ehrenberg's details, where he gives them, makes me 

 distinguish this species from his N. cop)ens ; though it comes very close to that fine 

 species, perhaps even closer than does Dr. Hudson's N. spicata, or any other. It is, in- 

 deed, less than half the size of Copeus ( = Ehrenbergii), my specimen measuring ^'^ inch 

 in length, when moderately extended ; I could not be sure that the brain had more than 

 one lobe ; the lumbar tentacles are placed far back, as in spicatus, and differ in 

 apparent structure from those of eitlier ; and finally the tail is neither a minute conical 

 tubercle nor a long stiff point, but a wide sub-globose sac (as in spicatus, but far 

 larger), whose walls are thrown into stiff sharp folds, as if composed of a firm leathery 

 skin. 



Yet the general aspect is that of Ehrenbergii ; the auricles have the same form and 

 direction, and the same comparatively large dimensions. Ordinarily they are quite un- 



' A side view of this fine Rotiferon has been accidentally omitted from pi. xvi. ; but will be given 

 in pi. XXX. It shows that the two occipital antennie are connected by a transverse ridge crossing from 

 the base of the one, to that of the other. My solitary specimen had a semi-transparent gelatinous 

 covering, out of which peeped the ends of the tour tentacles. The ephippial egg, when I first saw it, 

 was quite smooth, and separated by a clear space from its outmost covering. I saw its prickles begin 

 to grow, and watched them slowly stretching across to the outer shell. Two hours elapsed before they 

 had accomplished the distance. — C.T.H. 



