Abstract
PROF. LANKESTER'S account of the “Freshwater Medusa,” in NATURE, December 7, 1893, shows how with very little trouble the interests of zoologists may be served by those who have the charge of botanical gardens like that in the Regent's Park. All that is necessary is to refrain from periodically cleaning out the tanks in which tropical water plants are grown. When these latter are imported from abroad they often carry with them various aquatic animals of novelty or interest like the medusa mentioned. This particular tank has recently produced quite a number of remarkable animals. Mr. Bousfield, some years since, found certain new or little known species of Dero therein, and more recently Prof. A. G. Bourne met with a new form of the Naid genus Pristina in the same tank. I have been able, thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Sowerby, to examine water and decaying weed there from on more than one occasion, and I discovered a series of rare or novel species of Oligochæta. The most remarkable form was one which I described a year or two since as a new genus Branchiura; this worm, with the general characters of a Tubifex, possesses a row of dorsal and ventral branchial processes, besides showing other points of interest. In the same sample of water were large quantities of a Naid, called by its original describer, Prof. Bourne, who met with it in the town of Calcutta, Chætobranchus semperi. This worm has also a series of branchiæ, but they are lateral in position, and enclose the long dorsal setæ of the Annelid, thus suggesting the parapodia of the marine Chætopods. I have also found the rare species Æolosoma niveum in the same locality, and a freshwater Nemertine (♀ Tetrasteruma aquarum dulcium), besides a number of Oligochæta which I did not at the time identify.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BEDDARD, F. The Fauna of the Victoria Regia Tank in the Botanical Gardens. Nature 49, 247 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/049247a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/049247a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.