i6 



HARDU'ICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



are drawn with the "head" protruded ; and by the 

 significant remark of Ehrenberg, that his D. Home- 

 manii was "capable of retraction," showing to my 

 mind that he also understood that the other species 

 of the genus were incapable of retracting the head. I 

 quite think that under such confirmatory coinci- 

 dences I was justified in my assumption. I am now 

 quite convinced, both from Mr. Bryce's experience 

 of the genus, and my own subsequent acquaintance 

 with it, that Mr. Gosse could only use the phrase in 

 the sense indicated by Mr. Bryce. With reference 

 to my omission of the word "lengthened" in my 

 quotation, it was, as he suggests, quite unintentional, 

 and I cannot understand how it occurred, as I find it 

 in my original paper. There is one point in which I 

 am sorry to have to differ from Mr. Bryce, but I am 

 still of opinion that my two new species are Cathy- 

 pme ; the lorica being "sub-circular," or as he puts 

 it, " ovate," and not of the form of a " long ellipse." 

 Another critic of my paper has to some extent mis- 

 understood my point, and most certainly misjudged 

 the spirit in which my notes were written, and as he 

 is quoted by Mr. Bryce, I reply to his chief criticism 

 here. In the first place, he makes the statement 

 that, "The distinction (between the two genera) is 

 plain enough." Now while I readily admit that 

 typical species of any of the genera, may easily be 

 distinguished from typical species of even closely 

 allied genera, yet with those species near the border- 

 line it is frequently " not plain " on which side they 

 ought to be placed. In this very genus, the only 

 new species Mr. Gosse admitted into the body of the 

 work was D. flexilis, and of this, he says in one 

 place, "I add doubtfully" and in another, "I am 

 not by any means sure that this is entitled to specific 

 rank ; nor, if so, whether it ought to be placed in 

 the genus Distyla." My critic then points out the 

 distinctions between the two genera in the words 

 quoted in Science-Gossip by Mr. Bryce. "In 

 Cathypna the whole trunk is loricated, but in Distyla 

 only the hinder-portion of the trunk is loricated, the 

 fore part having a membranous covering." It is a 

 very strange circumstance that in no place does Mr. 

 Gosse mention such a distinction, never even hints at 

 it ; and if my critic means anything more than that 

 Distyla can exert rather more of its frontal part than 

 most loricated Rotifera, then his distinction is not a 

 fact. Mr. Gosse does say that the lorica is "mem- 

 branous before," but he figures it as having a well- 

 defined anterior margin, and it will be noted, he 

 designates the whole of this "the lorica." However, 

 through the kindness of Mr. Bryce and another 

 valued London correspondent, I have had the 

 pleasure of studying two undoubted species of 

 Distyla, both, however, new forms, and I am per- 

 fectly satisfied that the genus is a good one. These 

 two species were very characteristic, and no mi- 

 croscopist who had any experience in this class of 

 animals could for a moment have mistaken them for 



Cathypna. They had the " lengthened and flattened 

 form," and the activity so unusual with other Rotifera 

 of the family Cathypnadse. The chief and most 

 obvious distinction, however, is the form of the 

 lorica, which in Distyla is a long oval. In con- 

 clusion, while candidly admitting that I was wrong 

 in my supposition, I think that my previous notes are 

 of value, as showing that there are some species of 

 Cathypna which, when fully extended, so strongly 

 resemble Distyla, when fully extended, that great 

 caution is necessary in assigning them their place, 

 and before doing so they ought to be studied in 

 both conditions. 



J. E. Lord. 

 Rawtenstall. 



OBSERVATIONS ON PHALLUS 

 IMPUDICUS. 



THIS fungus, Phalhcs impudicus, the stinking 

 morell, or stink-horn (Fig. 9), may usually 

 be found amongst the roots of chopped-down trees 



,:jQa°-'.';:id?.„. 



~&m 





Fig. 9.— Phallus impudicus. 



and shrubs, especially the beech and hornbeam, in 

 damp, shady woods and copses ; less frequently I have 



