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 filled with ova and the remains of the parent. A portion of this
I have brought with me; the water is peopled with Pterodina patina,
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 ; («) 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 their 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 disk, 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 lunula 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 Mullers works by me, I cannot say what is the
modern name of his Cyclops lupula." Bee 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