344 A Supposed New Acineta. 



It is curious that, as Mr. Alder thought these creatures 

 looked likeCampanularian Zoophytes, or animals inhabiting bell- 

 shaped cups, he should have omitted the mention of the cup in 

 his description, and described the "body as of a vase or cup 

 form." The tentacles of his objects differed in shape from 

 mine, and were clearly not the same, nor should I have ex 

 jtected any strong resemblance, had I not noticed a copy of 

 his drawings in the Micrographic Dictionary, pi. 40, figs. 13, 

 14, 15, which led me to further research. The drawings, es- 

 pecially 14 and 15, and those from which they were copied in 

 the Annals, seem to show that the body of the creature is 

 suspended in a bell-shaped cup standing on a stalk. At first 

 these objects were named Alderia; but that appellation having 

 been pre-occupied, they took their place among the Podophrya 

 and the allied genus Ephelota in the last and fourth edition 

 of Pritchard's Infusoria. In this position they were placed, 

 as Mr. Pritchard informs us, by Dr. Strethill Wright. In my 

 specimens certain peculiarities mentioned by Dr. Wright in the 

 stem and tentacles of his Ephelota did not exist. The Podophrya 

 ovata and pyriformis in Pritchard's Infusoria, and especially 

 the former, seem, on the whole, to bear most resemblance to 

 mine. 



I have indicated the few points of resemblance between my 

 creatures, which I believe to be Acinetans, and those described 

 by Mr. Alder and Dr. Strethill Wright, and through the kind- 

 ness of the last-named gentleman, to whom I am indebted for 

 an obliging and valuable communication, I am able to stato 

 that his two genera, " Podophrya and Ephelota, differ from 

 Acineta in having no cell or cups ; but a chitinous solid stem 

 sometimes enlarged at its summit. The internal part of the 

 stem is either transversely or longitudinally striated with lines 

 of growth." This settles the fact that my creatures were not 

 Podophryans ; but the distinction between cup and no cup is 

 softened down in one specimen of Podophrya, of which Dr. 

 Wright has favoured me with a sketch, and in which the top 

 of the stem is hollowed out. 



Dr. Streihill Wright finds in the neighbourhood of Edin- 

 burgh two Acinetans which are something like mine, but 

 obviously not identical ; and ho informs me that the tentacles 

 aro often very obscurely capitate or knobbed at the ends: mine 

 certainly had no knobs; but perhaps tho distinction of knobs 

 or no knobs is not always permanent. 



