292 BRITISH ENTOMOSTKACA. 



and consists each of a broad, foliaceous, elongated plate, 

 as a basal joint, and one small single branch springing 

 from its side. The inferior edge of this plate is sharply 

 notched, and on its upper surface, covered by the last 

 segment of the thorax, there is a thick, waved, projecting 

 fold. 



The oviferous tubes spring, as is usual in the animals 

 of this order, from the inferior surface of the last thoracic 

 segment of the bodv, where it articulates with the abdomen. 



^j */ 



They are very long and slender, but instead of projecting 

 externally, as in the other families already described, they 

 are twisted upon each other in numerous loops, and lie 

 concealed in the hollow space between the abdomen and 

 the large, buckler-shaped, last segment of the thorax. 

 This peculiar structure was pointed out by Lamartiniere, 

 but he fancied these tubes to be the intestines. In the 

 specimen he describes, he says, " son veutre etait rempli 

 par un paquet d'intestins de forme ventriculaire, de la 

 grosseur d'un cheveu." (Loc. cit., p. 207.) 



Little has been observed of the habits and manners of 

 the animals of this genus. Lamartiniere found them fixed 

 upon the gills of the Diodon, or sun-fish of the coasts of 

 California. In the specimens from the Irish coast and 

 from the English shores, they were taken from the Ortka- 

 goriscus mola, or short snn-fish. They have been taken 

 off the same fish on the French coast. Risso says, that 

 those in the Mediterranean " float in thousands upon the 

 surface of the sea, far away from the coast, and serve as 

 food for the wandering fishes, especially the Cepliale lune, 

 whose stomach is always filled with an astonishing quan- 

 tity of these animals." Hist. Nat. Eur. mer., v 7 141. 



