r6tifers. 



229 



what trumpet-shaped, very soft and 

 flexible, and when young is colorless, 

 becoming slightly yellowish as it in- 

 creases in age. 



The eggs are often to be noticed 

 adhering to the lower part of the 

 parent. When the young one is 

 hatched, it either remains in the old 

 colony to increase the size of the 

 cluster, or it leaves and founds a new 

 group, so that in favorite localities 

 colonies of almost any number of 

 members may be obtained. 



The Rotifers of old colonial clust- 

 ers are often infested by an Infusorial 

 parasite, which runs over the surface and apparently 

 feeds on the mucous matters secreted by the Rotifers' 

 skin. It is called Chilodon megalStrochce, and resembles, 

 in a general way, the Chilodon shown by Fig. 128. 



Fig. 160. — Mega- 

 ]6trocha. 



8. CONOCHfLUS (Fig. l6l). 



In the writer's locality free-swimming 

 colonies of Conochilus volvox are among 

 the Rotifers most frequently met with, 

 especially in the spring of the year when 

 they seem most numerous and, like many 

 other denizens of the ponds," have all 

 their functions exceedingly active. 



The rounded, freely floating colonies 

 are visible to the naked eye as they roll 

 through the water, especially if the ves' 

 sel containing them be held against the 



