38 WESLEY R. COE. 



below the change in pressure between their natural habitat and 

 the surface has caused the rupture of the body walls and the 

 extrusion of certain of the internal organs. The evidence all 

 points to a pelagic life at great depths, that is, from several 

 hundred feet to hundreds of fathoms. That is to say, they are 

 truly bathypelagic organisms. 



In the same collection and from the same locality were two 

 specimens which Verrill ('92) described as belonging to another 

 genus and species, Hyalonemertes atlantica, with characteristics 

 very similar to those of Nectomertes, but which lacked any trace 

 of tentacles. By a curious error, evidently made in transcribing 

 his notes, the ovaries of these females were incorrectly described 

 by Verrill as the gonads of Nectonemertes. But for this confusion 

 it is possible that Verrill would have himself recognized the 

 sexual dimorphism of this form. 



Since Verrill 's original description of Nectonemertes several 

 other species of the genus have been described from as many 

 different localities. One species, N. pelaglca Cravens and Heath 

 ('06), occurs off the coast of California. Another, N. japonica 

 Foshay ('12), lives in Japanese waters. Three others, N. 

 grimaldii Joubin ('04) from west of the Azores, N. chavesi Joubin 

 ('06) from south of the Azores, N. lobata Joubin ('06) from near 

 the Azores, were each described from the superficial study of a 

 single specimen. As the specific distinctions rest largely on the 

 peculiarities of the tentacles, Joubin's three supposed species 

 may eventually prove to represent merely growth stages of but 

 a single species. 



The tentacles of N. chavesi were represented merely by blunt 

 papillae or short tubercles (Fig. II, f) in the only specimen 

 studied by Joubin. The photograph shows indication of minute 

 cephalic spermaries (Fig. II, sp), although Joubin did not recog- 

 nize them as such. Both these characters indicate an immature 

 male individual. In N. grimaldii, on the other hand, both 

 tentacles and cephalic spermaries are well developed (Fig. 9), 

 indicative of a mature male. Joubin correctly describes the 

 external appearance of the spermaries, but suspected that they 

 might be organs of a glandular or sensory nature. In the single 

 specimen of N. lobata available for study by Joubin, one of the 



