50 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
Feb., 1922 
November 29. — A special meeting to hear Mr. H. H. 
Baker, of Messrs. Watson and Sons, Brisbane, lecture on 
“The Human Eye and the Microscope . 9 ’ The lecturer 
dealt with his subject closely, and was accorded a vote of 
thanks. 
December 11. — Lecture by Dr. H. I. Jensen, Queens- 
land Geographical Survey Department. 
Excursions . — A very pleasant week-end excursion was 
held to Burleigh Heads (South Coast) during November, 
and the Christmas-New Year trip to the National Park of 
the Macpherson Range was again inaugurated. The success 
of the latter excursion was marred by consistently wet 
weather. Despite this, about a dozen members walked 
from Kerry to the Roberts Plateau, about thirteen miles, 
spent two days there, and walked down again. Some added 
ten miles to their walk by tramping in to the railway from 
Kerry. 
0 
TRANSACTIONS. 
A WONDERFUL ROTIFER. 
By W. R. Colledge, Brisbane. 
A curious and rare Rotifer is occasionally glimpsed 
in Brisbane. A few days, in the course of one or two 
years, are the only opportunities given to the student of 
this unique creature. Like the most of its genus, it is too 
small to be seen by the ordinary human eye ; and a thousand 
might be swallowed in a glass of water without any indica- 
tion of their presence to the thirsty soul. Its classical and 
only name is the Trochosphcera equatorialis. It was first 
seen by Professor Semper in the Philippine Islands, and 
again, forty years ago, by Surgeon Gunson Thorpe, in 
Brisbane, and, as far as I know, in no other place. 
It is a tiny globe whose walls, as transparent as a soap- 
bubble, display to the observer all its internal mechanism. 
A narrow muscular ring is thrown around the middle, and 
imbedded in this a continuous row of cilia. These move 
with wonderful rapidity, imparting a graceful rolling 
motion to the creature, and at the same time propelling a 
current of water along a channel running round the mus- 
cular ring. This current bears little floating particles 
towards the mouth, where they are passed to a tiny pair of 
jaws, which open and close with great regularity. 
