224 AQUATIC MICROSCOPY FOR BEGINNERS. 



escapes, but is gradually driven down into the funnel, 

 when the Rotifer partly closes the front opening, and 

 with a perceptible gulp swallows the captive and passes 

 it on to the mastax. 



Stephandceros does not seem to be. common. The 

 writer has found it sparingly on Myriophyllum as late 

 as the middle of November, but never at any time in 

 any numbers. 



3. FlosculAkia (Fig. 156). 



The front of the body or the preoral passage is here 

 also like an open funnel, the narrow part leading to 

 the mastax. The ciliary disk is, in the species here re- 

 ferred to (JF. ornata), replaced by five 

 little rounded elevations on the front 

 margin, each bearing a thick cluster 

 of long, fine, radiating setae, which are 

 flexible, and movable at the animal's 

 will, but which never vibrate like cilia. 

 The long foot is attached to a sub- 

 merged object, and is surrounded by 

 a soft, transparent sheath. 



When the Rotifer retires into this 

 protective covering, it folds the wide 

 front part of the body together, the 

 clusters of long setae seem to become 



Fig. 156. — tloscuUria 



much tangled into a single bunch, and omdta. 



the creature slips back into the sheath. 



When she comes out, the bunch of setae trembles 

 in a charming way, reminding the observer of that 

 quivering of hot air often seen above a warm surface 

 on a summer day. The front border opens, the 

 clusters of stiff hairs are spread apart, and the 

 Rotifer is ready for something to eat. Any little ani- 



