322 ME. P. H. GOSSE OX THE DKECIOTJS CHAEACTEE OP THE EOTIEEEA. 
infinity of atoms of an excessive minuteness, but every one of wMcb, for a few seconds, 
displayed spontaneous motion. Their whole appearance, and the manner in which they 
presently changed to motionless disks, were exactly the same as of the spermatozoa which 
the male eggs of other Eotifeea contain, except that these were so minute. 
“ From another I extracted an egg of the ordinary form and appearance. It was very 
long, measuring X inch. The contained embryo was well-advanced ; 
two red eyes were plainly seen by reflected and by transmitted light : the gizzard was 
transverse, very large in proportion, and the jaws worked vigorously : a little opake body, 
white under sunhght, was in the posterior part. This embryo died without hatching.” 
32. Thus there is evidence of the dioecious character in the following genera and 
species of Eotifeea : — 
As])lanchna Brightwellii. 
As])lcmchna priodonta. 
Asplanchna Sieholdii. 
\ Synchwta tremula. 
Polyarthm platyptera. 
Bmchionus Bala. 
Bmchionus rubens. 
BracMonus ampMceros. 
Bmchionus angularis. 
BracMonus Bakeri. 
BracMonus Boreas. 
BracMonus Mulleri. 
Bacculus viridis. 
Melicerta ringens. 
And it is presumed, with a high degree of probability, to mark also the following : — 
Hydatina senta. 
Biglena catelUna^. 
33. It must be borne in mind, too, that there is no direct evidence on the other side ; 
for no species has, I believe, been actually proved to be hermaphrodite. Hence, I think, 
we may reasonably conclude a distinction of sex to be the normal condition of the Class, 
or at least of that great group which is most typical, \iz. such as have articulated mallei 
working upon a separate articulated incus. Whether the same rule prevails so generally 
in those which have the mallei and incus fused together into quadiuntic masses, and m 
those in which these organs exist in a rudimentary condition, is a question yet to be 
determined. As these are certainly the lowest forms of then Class, it is possible that 
hermaphroditism may be found in them — in the PMlodinadce for instance. 
34. In summing up the results of the herein-recorded, as well as of former observa- 
tions, the most prominent thing that strikes us is the absolute and miiversal ati'ophy(so 
far) of the digestive system in male Eotifeea. It was first observed witli admiration in 
Asplanchna Brightwellii, and has been found to belong, without exception, to every 
male since observed. Mr. Daleymple, indeed, remarked a little isolated congeries of 
vesicles in the cavity of the male of the species just named, and I have seen it also. 
Possibly this may be the lingering rudiment of a stomach, but it is scarcely likely ; and 
* Since this memoir was read, I have been enabled to add to the above list Notommata Bracliionm. The 
male of this species much resembles those of the Bracliioni, equalling in its organization the male of 
B. Mulleri. Its form, however, is as conical as that of Synchceta. 
