CHAPTER X. 



Sub-Oldor LOKICATA. 



Integument stiffened to a wliullt/, or iMrtialUj, inclosiiuj sJiclL ; foot various. 



Family XI. RATTULID/E. 



[Body rylindric or fusiform, smooth, jviiJiout jdicce or angles ; contained in a lorica 

 closed all round, hut open at each end, often ridged ; trophi long, asymmetric ; eye 

 single, cervical. Generally subject to abnormal conditions. 



This family comes first in the Loricate sub-order, because the loricate structure is in 

 varied condition ; for, whereas in some species it is indubitable, in others, which yet can- 

 not be severed from these, the integument is still thin, flexible, and membranous. 

 Ehrenberg, indeed, while he assigned M. carinata to the Loricata, removed his genus 

 Monocerca far away to Il-loricata. Yet that carinata and rattus are congeneric cannot 

 be doubted by anyone who knows both ; hicornis certainly goes with the latter. The 

 sausage-shaped species have many family affinities with these ; though subdivisible inter 

 se. The peculiar form of trophi represented in figs. 00-62 of my Memoir " On the Manduc. 

 Organs" rmis with little variation through all. 



The most curious peculiarity in the family is its tendency to asymmetry, which 

 appears in many organs. In the mastax the right malleus always Jifl'ers from the left ; 

 when there is an elevated ridge on the dorsum, it is apt to be bent over on one side, and, 

 instead of running straight down the middle, to pass slantwise from right to left ; when 

 two antemiEB are present they are unequal. The toes, sometimes normal, are often 

 reduced to a single style, with minute sub-styles grouped around its base. In otlier 

 cases they are modified in a most unprecedented manner, described under the genus 

 Calopus. On the whole, it is a group of very peculiar interest, both to the scient and to 

 the intelligent seeker for amusement. — P.H.G.J 



Genus MASTIGOCEECA, Ehrenberg. 



[GEN. CH. BoAy fusiform or irregularly tltick, not lunate ; toe a single style, tcith 

 accessory stylets at its base ; lorica of ten furnished with a thin dorsal ridge. 



The terminal style is by no means a tail, but a true toe, however modified. The 

 homology of the sub-styles is not clear. The surface of the body is usually smooth and 

 polished, often elegantly tapered ; nor does the thin elevated carina of the dorsum 

 materially interfere witli this elegance, which the long taper toe admirably finishes. 

 This organ, though inflexible throughout, is capable of rapid and sudden motions, being 

 bent right and left, and whisked to and fro with great agility. The mastax is usually 

 pear-shaped and very long, but the oesophagus, a sinuate duct, leads from it almost at 

 its very summit occipitally, just where the mallei work upon the incus. Thus the great 

 length of the mastax does not intrench on the needful length of the stomach, since this 

 viscus begins far forward. Tlie muscles, in many species, especially the transverse series, 

 have been well resolved. Muciparous glands are richly supplied. Surprise is often felt 

 tliat Eotifera with but a single style should be able to maintain so firm a hold upon 



