Title: The Aquarium
Identifier: aquarium141912phil (find matches)
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors:
Subjects: Aquarium fishes; Aquariums
Publisher: Philadelphia : Aquarium Societies of Brooklyn, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Brachionus urceolaris, Melicerta ringens, Stephanoceros eichhorni The figures in tlie background are algae disc. Melicerta ringens, as an example of case-builder, possesses a so-called pill-or- gan which is an open sac fringed with ciliae, placed innnediately below the mouth. This sac catches stray little grainlets and turns them into pills with the aid of mucus or slime. These are then carried out and de- posited along the upper edge of the case, the whole case being built up of such "pills." Rotifers can withstand drying up for some time, being then blown about with the dust, and thus carried far and wide. When they again reach water they flourish as before. This state of anabiosis (lifelessness) is a well-known phenomenon shown by many organisms which after 200 years of obser- vation still is not well explained. Rotifers can remain in such an inert condition for months and years with impunity. Possibly they exude a jelly-like substance which seals them up and so retains a certain measure of moisture which carries the ani- mals through the period of drowth. 35

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