HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



129 



ROSSEXDALE RHIZOPODS. 



No. 9. 



]\/T^ previous papers on the above subject, have 

 ■*■ ' J- chiefly been written with a view to assist the 

 young student in the identification of his finds ; but 

 they have the additional value of furnishing a record 

 of the species found in a locality, which, so far as I 

 am aware, has been previously unworked. In order 

 to make this record as valuable as possible, I append 

 a complete list of my captures, many of which have 

 been discovered either during the time my former 

 articles were going through the press, or since. 



Protoplasta lobosa. 



Amceba proteus 

 A. verrucosa 

 A. radiosa 

 A. villosa 

 Pelomyxa villosa 



DuUugia pyriformis 

 D. urceolata (rare) 

 D. acuminata 

 E>. globulosa 

 D. constricta 

 D. spiralis 



Total 



Hyalosphenia tincta (rare) 

 H. papilio (rare) 

 Nebela collaris 

 N. flabellulum 



Arcella vulgaris 



A. discoides 



A. mitrata (rare) 



Centropyxis aculeata 

 C. ecomis 



Protoplasta filosa. 



Parophagiis hyalinus Euglypha alveolata 



Pseudodittlngia gracilis E. ciliata 



Trinema acinus 

 Cyphoderia ampulla 



Total 



Protoplasta heliozoa. 



Actinopbrys sol 

 .Actinospberium Eicbbornii 

 Acanthocysris sp. (with 



simple spines) 

 Clathrulina elegans 



Diplophrys Archeri 

 Vampyrella laterita 

 Hyalolampe fenestrella 

 Heterophrys myriopoda 



Total 



New species 7 



Protoplasta lobosa 20 



P. filosa 6 



P. beliozoa 8 



Total 



+1 



In the above list it will be noticed that there are 

 twenty species of Protoplasta lobosa, six species of 

 Protoplasta filosa, and eight species of the Heliozoa. 

 The Protoplasta lobosa are very common in our ponds, 

 ditches, small reservoirs and wells, with the exception 

 ef the two species of Hyalosphenia, which are ex- 

 clusively of sphagnous habitat, and are, as far as my 

 experience goes, exceedingly rare. As will have been 

 noticed from my papers, all, or nearly all, the testaceous 

 forms of the lobose Rhizopods, even of the same 

 species, are very variable, not only in size, and to a 

 less extent in form, but also in the character and dis- 

 tribution of the various elements which go to make 

 up their tests. All the filose Rhizopods I have 

 enumerated are fairly plentiful, but have been found 

 only in the clearest pools and wells. The Heliozoans, 

 with the one exception of Actinophrys sol, are ex- 

 ceedingly rare, one or two specimens only, of each 

 species recorded, having as yet rewarded my search. 



This may perhaps be accounted for by the sparseness 

 of our floating vegetation. "We have three of the 

 four species of Lemna (minor, major, and trisulca), 

 but these are only found in a very few of our waters, 

 and as far as I am aware are the only floating pond- 

 weeds found in Rossendale. Possibly, as the 

 Rhizopods of this order are more or less surface-forms, 

 or at least swimmers, the excessive rain-fall of the 

 past year may have had the effect of thinning their 

 numbers. From the frequency of their appearance 

 in tubes of the Rotifera, sent me by numerous corre- 

 spondents, I should imagine that the Heliozoa are more 

 plentiful in the south of England, than in our cold, 

 bleak northern district. In addition to the above, I 

 have discovered seven new species, all testaceous, 

 making forty-one species altogether, but as these 

 were unfortunately represented only by empty tests, 

 I regret that I shall have to defer a detailed descrip- 

 tion of them until a further study has supplied this 

 important deficiency. Several correspondents in the 

 vicinity of London have sent me drawings of other 

 forms, not described in " Leidy," and I feel con- 

 vinced that if microscopists in various parts of the 

 country were to take up the systematic study of the 

 Rhizopods, science would soon be enriched by the 

 acquisition of numerous new species, in a class which, 

 so far as the fresh-water forms are concerned, appears 

 to me only meagrely represented, by about seventy 

 species. The classification of the order Heliozoa, is, 

 perhaps, as good a one as could possibly be contrived 

 under present circumstances, but it soon becomes 

 evident to any one who has studied this order, and 

 who has had a fair number of forms under observa- 

 tion, that many of his specimens cannot be made to fit 

 into any of the genera of Professor Leidy ; and there 

 have not been wanting indications that some of the 

 obscurer forms of the order present themselves at 

 different times, under widely different aspects. Even 

 the authority named himself has been content in 

 many cases to indicate only the genus to which some 

 of these puzzling forms apparently belonged. This 

 change of aspect has especially characterised some 

 specimens (presumably of Heterophrys) kindly sent 

 me by Mr. Scourfield, from the Victoria regia tank, 

 Regent's Park. I hope subsequently to be in a 

 position to refer to this matter again when further 

 study has made me acquainted with additional facts 

 in the life-history of this interesting order. I have 

 hitherto said nothing as to the reproduction of the 

 class ; indeed, in this early stage of my enquiry, all 

 my energies have been directed to the discovery and 

 determination of the various species occurring in the 

 district ; and although some phases of the reproduc- 

 tive process have been witnessed, yet these have been 

 of a too fragmentary character to prove of much value 

 until supplemented by further research. In addition to 

 the discovery of new forms, and the elucidation of the 

 modes of development, there is, it appears to me, a 

 wide and interesting field of enquiry in relation to the 



