Journal of Proceedings. 
xlvii 
breeding place, however mysteriously the access is gained, it implies an 
amount of discrimination in so minute an organism which seems scarcely 
conceivable. 
“I have kept the Vaucheria gathered in February in a glass vessel to 
the present time (July), and although its growth has been very languid 
and it has lost its deep green character, it is still abounding with the 
capsules tilled with ova and the remains of the parent. A portion of this 
I have brought with me; the water is peopled with Pterodinapatina, 
with a few individuals of what I took for Pleurotrocha gibba, which was 
abundant in the spring. 
“ I feel I should apologise for occupying the time of the Club with a 
subject which in my ignorance appears to me so remarkable; but I could 
hardly resist taking advantage of the presence of Mr. Kent, who has 
worked so laboriously and to such excellent purpose at the life-history of 
these creatures, to ask his explanation of what has afforded me much 
interesting observation, and which, though probably well known, is, 
I think, not the less strange and suggestive.” 
Explanation of Figures. —Fig. 1. The Rotifer, distended with more or 
less developed eggs, removed from within a dark capsule ; (a) red eye- 
spot, which appears in the young in an elongated form, concealed in 
fig. 4 by the gizzard; the six bright dots (b) are seen in the young as 
red granules. On the death of the creature, the dark central mass 
breaks up into granules in the surrounding water, with Brownian 
movements; the contents of the stomach, consisting of aggregated 
chlorophyll-granules which had before been hidden, can then be seen. 
Fig. 2. An old brownish capsule from which, as well as from the stem, all 
chlorophyll has disappeared, the parent Rotifer being probably dead. 
The capsule contained more than fifty eggs, most of them enclosing 
young in active motion within the shell; several released young were 
observed crawling among the eggs and broken egg-shells, and some 
making then’ way within the tube of the stem of the Vaucheria, in 
one or two instances at a considerable distance from their birthplace. 
Fig. 3. (a) A green capsule with two processes at the base, clearly showing 
that it is an abnormal growth of the fruit-bud. ( b) Fruit of V. race- 
mosa. 
Fig. 4. Young Rotifer lately hatched, (a) Gizzard, in front of which is a 
ciliary chsk, seen laterally; the red eye-spot is placed above the 
gizzard towards the dorsal surface, and between them is a group of 
six red granules on each side of the animal; the oral extremity is 
terminated by a beak-like process bending downwards above the 
ciliary disk. The young are active crawlers when free, but were 
never seen swimming. 
[Dr. Cooke has pointed out to us the following note in Hassall’s 
‘British Fresh-water Algae ’ (1845), vol. i., p. 56. Speaking of Vaucheria 
racemosa, Dr. Hassall says :—“ It is this species which is most frequently 
infested with the curious parasite, Cyclops lupula of Muller, which occa¬ 
sions the growth on the filaments of such extraordinary-looking ap¬ 
pendages, in the midst of which the parasite resides.” Dr. Cooke adds, 
“As I have none of Muller’s works by me, I cannot say what is the 
modern name of his Cyclops lupula .” See also Cooke’s ‘ British Fresh¬ 
water Algae’ (1883), p. 125.— Ed.] 
A short discussion followed, during which Mr. Saville Kent said he 
had a vivid recollection of encountering a record of similar phenomena 
with corresponding figures in one of the many English or Continental 
