178 Transactions of the Society. 



pale pink eyes and the contractile vesicle is large and plain and 

 contains a cluster of yellow globules. 



It is to be hoped that Dr. Hudson will continue to investigate 

 this most remarkable form. Another species discovered and de- 

 scribed by Dr. Hudson is Floscularia ambigua which, he says, is 

 the least elegant of all the species, being broad and stumpy and 

 trilobed. It is, however, allied to F. hoodii in some points, 

 and its curious habits compensate for its inelegance. Mr. Hood 

 writes : " This Floscule is not a beauty, but what it wants in grace 

 it gains in interest, for it is most amusing to watch it feeding. As 

 soon as it has fully expanded its large head, infusoria of various 

 species may be observed to be drawn swiftly down the large cavity 

 formed by the lobes. The inward-setting current, thus formed by 

 the ciha at the base of the cavity, seems to be stronger in this 

 species than in the others, for large animalcules, such as Kolpoda 

 and Paramecium, and even free-swimming rotifers will often fall 

 victims to this big, burly and voracious creature. It has an 

 insatiable appetite ; I have frequently seen the young of (Ecistes 

 j^ilula and (Ecistes umhella devoured by it, the young of the large 

 rotifers making even less resistance than the infusoria. It is not 

 purely carnivorous, for the young of Volvox ghhator fall a prey. 

 Whenever it has got a victim within its great mouth-funnel, 

 there is no possibility of its making its escape ; although, with a 

 full stomach, F. amhigua seems inclined to play with its prey as a 

 cat would with a mouse, allowing it to swim about within the 

 funnel, and to try and escape over the margin. Whenever the 

 animalcule approaches the setigerous rim, a sharp stroke from one 

 or more setae drives it back into the funnel. I have seen the 

 attempt to escape made over and over again, but always with the 

 same result ; in no single instance have I ever witnessed the escape 

 of a captive. No one could credit the voracity of this Floscule 

 who had not watched it. I have seen one eat in half an hour no less 

 than twenty-four live infusoria of various sizes with a young Eotifer 

 and Volvox now and then." 



Dr. Hudson notices that the males of F. amhigua are hatched 

 from smaller and rounder eggs than the females. Their digestive 

 organs and mastax are wanting ; the anterior portion of the body 

 was transparent, bearing a wreath of long vibratile cilia and two 

 red eye- spots. Dr. Hudson bears testimony to the variation in the 

 number of the setigerous lobes of the Floscules, and after noticing 

 that three and five are common numbers, and that five and six in 

 the same animal is a somewhat doubtful fact, determines that a new 

 form, F. regalis, has seven lobes, which are knobs on festoons, and 

 are crowded with setae. 



Dr. Hudson has also communicated a very interesting paper on 

 the Humped Kotifer, Asplanchna Ebheshornii, and has not only 



