Monthly Microscopical! 
Journal, Sept. 1, 1869. J 
Floscularia coronetta. 
135 
find that a corresponding organ had previously been observed by 
Dr. Dobie, further described and illustrated by Dr. C. T. Hudson, 
in F. campanulata, in a paper communicated to the Bristol Micro- 
scopical Society in 1867, and to the courtesy of the honorary secre- 
tary of that society I am indebted for a copy of their Proceedings 
containing the same. Then, in the month of June last, when in 
quest of members of the family Flosculariadse, a small gathering 
of the prolific vi^ater-moss Fontinalis antifyretica, from one of the 
small pools on Wimbledon Common, afforded me, amongst other 
species, a few specimens of the elegant Floscularia that forms the 
subject proper of this communication, and in describing this I trust 
I may, by frequent reference to the sketch and diagrams, be able to 
convey a lucid explanation of the character of the rotary organ 
which is very distinctly exhibited in this species. 
In venturing to claim for it a place as a distinct species accord- 
ing to the present classification, I have been assisted in my selection 
of a title by a review of the examples afibrded in the hitherto knovrn 
species, in all of which the titles have been determined from the 
peculiar formation of the coronal disc, and on comparing this with 
the discs of the other species (Plate XXY., Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 6) I 
confidently rely on the conviction that the claim will be undisputed ; 
and from the fact of having subsequently found, and continue still 
to find it inhabiting the water ranunculus on Wandsworth 
Common, widely separated from the first locality, there can be no 
question as to the species being permanent. 
The fixst specimen that presented itself I mistook for the 
moment, on account of its size, its wrinkled footstalk, and its slender 
protruding lobes, for a young Stephanoceros, and on better ac- 
quaintance it certainly departs somewhat from the characters of the 
genus Floscularia, which are, as given by Oken, — Frontal lobes 
short, broad, knobbed, expanded ; ciliary setae very long, radiating 
crowded about the knobs ; jaws each of two teeth. But inasmuch 
as the lobes in comparison with their width (the only gauge of 
length) are long, slender, and erect, it follows so far the characters 
of Stephanoceros, with which also there are further points of resem- 
blance — first, in the fact that the gelatinous case is of the same 
viscid character, and not a hollow tube with thin walls, as described 
for Floscularia. It is not improbable however, or even unrea- 
sonable to suppose, in the face of accidental incidents that have 
offered themselves in support of that statement, that the tubes of all 
the species may also be of this same viscid composition. The fol- 
lowing point can only be considered as a superficial resemblance, 
but at a first glance is most striking, — the dorsal lobe exhibits no 
palpable modification in outline, as is so noticeably distinguished in 
the other Floscules by the increased height and basal expansion 
both in F. ornata and F. campanulata, and by the addition thereto 
