180 MR JAMES MURRAY ON 



F. quadrangular is, (Glascott) (16). 



In spite of some little discrepancies, Miss Glascott's rough drawing of Notops 

 quadromgularis faithfully represents a little animal which is not infrequent in lochs, 

 though never abundant. The patches of brown globules render the identification almost 

 certain. The trunk is very broad, oblong, of firm texture, and maintains its shape. In 

 the Scotch examples the patches of globules have a slightly different arrangement from 

 that shown in Miss Glascott's figure. The two shoulder patches are the same ; there 

 is only one posterior patch, which is median and dorsal ; there is a less-defined median 

 dorsal patch between the shoulder patches. The eye is smaller and nearer the front ; 

 the toes are rather shorter. The foot is telescopic and elbowed, as in F. reinhardti, 

 but it performs none of the contortions of that violent species. This is a very un- 

 obtrusive, quiet little beast, which goes slowly about, feeding, scarcely altering its form 

 or the position of the foot. From the position of the eyes, the characters of the foot 

 and of the jaws, as far as seen, it seems to me to be a Furcularia, and not a Notops. 



F. reinhardti, Ehr. (? = Notommata theodora, Gosse). 



Of very common occurrence in Scottish lochs is a narrow, long -footed animal of the 

 genus Furcidaria. Whether there is only one species of this description is not certain ; 

 sometimes it is of moderate size and quiet habits, sometimes very large and extremely 

 active, the general form in both cases the same, and the animals not separable without 

 closer study than we have been able to give. Gosse's description of Notommata 

 theodora, its form, glassy transparency, and the mode of moving the immensely long 

 foot, apply perfectly to the larger form. Great numbers of the lesser form are often 

 found, in plankton collections, dead or dying, with a filament of some sort, algoid or 

 fungoid, apparently choking them. The foot is habitually bent downward, as well as 

 from side to side. 



DlNOCHARID/E. 



Dinocharis tetractis, Ehr. 



This species varies greatly in relative length and breadth. The extreme in one 

 direction is a form frequent in bogs. The trunk is very large, very broad, and the foot 

 relatively small. This occurs in lochs, but is rare. Lacustrine specimens are generally 

 much narrower, the foot and the toes relatively longer, in extreme forms approaching 

 the next species, though always distinguishable by the proportions of the foot-joints. 

 I have already noted, in treating of the abyssal region, the reduction of the foot-spurs 

 in abyssal examples. 



