Twenty-four more New Species of Rotifera. By P. II. Gosse. 865 



A slender brain descends behind ; but no eye is visible, unless two very 

 pale globules, close side by side, in the very front, are such._ 



A single specimen only has occurred, whose activity mainly consisted 

 in the vigorous throwing into different positions of the characteristic 

 toes. (Fig. 9.) 



10. Biglena aquila. Body fusiform : head furnished with a beak : 

 foot short, thick; toes nearly as long as trunk, thick to half-length, 

 then diminished to stiff, straight rods with obtuse points. Length 1/65 in. 

 Lacustrine. 



The long straight blunt toes are very characteristic. The proboscis is 

 a broad shield, somewhat as in Stephanops, permanent, surrounded by a 

 ring of very long vibratile cilia. It forms, indeed, a hooked beak, shaped 

 like that of an eagle, the edges of which, converging to a point (c), are 

 distinctly visible from above, through its hyaline substance. 



In manners it is headstrong, abrupt, vigorous ; most restless, never 

 pursuing one course more than an instant, but suddenly stopping, and 

 turning round on itself, augmenting its speed greatly for a moment, 

 rushing, or rather shooting, forward for three or four times its length, 

 then again and again, but never springing sidewise. I first received it 

 from the middle of Ireland, by the kindness of Mr. Hood, jun. ; then in 

 a pond near my own residence ; and on several occasions since. 



It bears a very close resemblance to a species discovered by Mr. E. 

 C. Bousfield, of which he courteously sent me a drawing, under the name 

 of Notommata ra2')ax. This has two conspicuous styles (antennae ?) 

 projecting straight from the head, which I do not see in D. aquila. If, 

 however, the two are identical, his specific name has the priority. 



None of my earlier examples showed any trace of an eye-spot ; but 

 since this article was written I have met with a specimen, in another 

 missive from Mr. Hood, jun., in which was conspicuous a very large 

 black occipital eye, if, indeed, it was not an opaque chalk-mass of the 

 brain. (Fig. 10.) 



11. Biglena Rosa. Body lengthened, fusiform, annulose, larva-like: 

 proboscis frontal, beak-shaped, within which are two colourless eyes : foot 

 minute; toes small, straight, acute. Length 1/150 to 1/115 in., average 

 width 1/475 in. Lacustrine. 



The strong division of the body into annular false-joints recalls 

 Tapliroeampa. The head, too, resembles that of an insect-larva. The 

 frontal beak is broadly triangular, like that of B. aquila just described, 

 and its sharp point, hooked downward, can be seen from above, through 

 its transparent substance. Two well-defined, perfectly colourless bodies, 

 side by side, are also seen through the base of the beak, apparently eyes 

 without pigment. A ring of close-set cilia surrounds the front, behind 

 the base of the beak. The face is truncate, studded with warty eminences. 

 The body terminates in a distinct bulbous tail. 



Several examples occurred in conferva-tufts waving in the swift mill- 

 stream at Kingskerswell. All were of a clear horn-yellow hue, with the 

 long alimentary canal full of opaque food-matter. They were restless and 

 swift ; — the jaws often protruded from the face, more generis. The beak 

 was much more acute and better-shaped in some than in others. 



Numbers 2, 9, and 11 of the present series I owe to the kind efforts 



