612 Transactions of the Society. 



The most remarkable features, in the new Conochilus, are the 

 position and form of the antennae. These are long, and grow 

 together for nearly two-thirds of their height ; and, as they stand 

 perched on the ventral surface, remind one a little of a rifle-sight. 

 They are too, for a Conochilus, in an unusual position ; for in 

 C. volvox they are close to the mouth, and within the inner circlet 

 of cilia. In C. dossuarius they are far away from the mouth, 

 and entirely outside the trochal disk. 



The young of C. volvox are in the habit of clustering together, 

 with their feet all tending to a common centre ; and, after swimming 

 for some time in this odd fashion round about one another, they 

 secrete tubes that fill up the spaces between the individual animals, 

 and clasp them all together into one sphere. 



But, from Mr. Bolton's observation, this does not seem to be 

 the case with C. dossuarius. Here young animals of different 

 ages are attached by their tubes to the much larger tube of their 

 common parent, forming clusters irregular in shape, and varying in 

 size. Fowever, I will not pursue the subject, as I hope that this 

 summer yVi-esh specimens will enable us to see whether this Cono- 

 chilus ever forms clusters, like the beautiful spheres of C. volvox. 



Notommata sj)icata n. sp, mihi. Plate XII. fig. 5. 



Mr. Bolton sent me this very large and remarkable Notommata 

 in May 1884. It is 1/25 in. in length, and is surrounded with 

 a transparent gelatinous covering, out of which peep the .ends of 

 its four dart-like antennae. It is something like J\^. centrura, but 

 this latter has only one anterior antenna on the median dorsal 

 line ; and its two posterior dorsal antennse are not nearly as long 

 as those of N. sjpicata, and are quite buried under the creature's 

 gelatinous coat. They both have the same funnel-like cihated 

 mouth, with its edges hanging down from under the ventral sur- 

 face, but their general contour is unlike ; N. centrura, when viewed 

 dorsally, is wider across the posterior end in proportion to its 

 length: N. spicata tapers much more gradually. However, the 

 four antennae are enough, I beheve, to distinguish it from all other 

 species.* It has a very long tapering stomach, much sacculated 

 at its anterior end, and four gastric glands close beneath the 

 mastax. The ovary, in the specimens I saw, was a long thick 

 rope, with the germs lying in it singly one above another. 



I had the good fortune to see the adorning of a lasting-egg with 



* N. spicata has a superficial resemblance to JSf. copeus ; but the latter has a 

 dorsal antenna on the median line (which the formel- lacks), as well as two stout, 

 flexible, cylindrical auricles, which it moves into various positions, and each of 

 which bears a circle of cilia on its free extremity. If iV. spicata has ciliated 

 auricles, I have not seen them exliibited : I only know N. copeus from. Ehrenberg's 

 drawings and description. 



