Page:Midland naturalist (IA midlandnaturalis01lond).pdf/150

 withdraw itself. It is very prolific, and sometimes increases in such numbers as to render the water turbid. The terminal forceps of the tail-foot can be drawn back into a sheath. Both the front and hinder edges of the body-shield are usually toothed, I have often seen this majestic creature, with from two to four eggs attached to the hinder part of her body, sailing about as if proud of her maternal charge. She thus tugs along a precious load of care through a large portion of her existence; while the crimson eye of the parent is prettily imitated by the the eye-spots of her yet unhatched offspring, My last example, Pterodina patina, is found lurking under the leaves of duck-weed. Its generic name refers to certain wing-like processes; its specific name aptly describes the dish-like form of the soft, flat, transparent lorica. The tail-foot comes out through an opening in the lorica near the middle of its ventral surface, giving the creature a profile somewhat like a shield with its handle. The free extremity of the tail-foot acts like a sucker, enabling its possessor to hold on to one spot, while swinging round with the rest of its body, an exercise which it seems to enjoy. Owing to the transparency of the body-shield every internal organ can be discerned with ease, The convolutions of the respiratory canals are particularly wall shown. Two longitudinal muscles can also be seen, crossed by faint stripe.

In bringing my imperfect observations upon Rotifera to a close, I take the opportunity of strongly recommending to the student, as books full of interesting information and excellent figures, Slack's "Marvels of Pond Life," and Gosse's "Evenings at the Microscope."

British Barrows; a Record of the Examination of Sepulchral Mounds in various parts of England. By, M.A. F.S.E. London: Macmillan and Co. Price £1 5s.

Canon Greenwell's "British Barrows" is not only the most important contribution to Archæology which 1877 produced; it is one of the most accurate and philosophic works which have yet appeared on the pre-historic branch of the science. We use the term "pre-historic" in that convenient, if rather loose sense, which applies it to the times after the Palæolithic age, and before the dawn of history. No single book has added so much to our knowledge of the Neolithic and Bronze periods. As a record of actual exploration it has few equals, as a comment on discoveries it has hardly a rival. The introduction is a compendious statement of what is known and what can be inferred respecting the unrecorded past. Many of the older books on Archæology are so obscured by fanciful or traditionary notions that the facets they contain lose much of their value. An antiquary who started on his explorations expecting to disentomb an Ophite temple, a Druidical altar, or a monument of King Arthur, unconsciously distorts his discoveries to fit in with his expectations, Other archæologists, avoiding the Scylla of fancy, have fallen into