NICOTHOE. 303 



thence proceeds in a curve round that part where the 

 appendage proceeds from the body, into the middle por- 

 tion of the same, and where it evidently has its issue on 

 the same side where the sexual aperture occurs. The latter 

 organ, which is wont to contain a somewhat thickish fluid, is 

 not, apparently, an exudation of the ovary, but something 

 similar to those organs in the Lerneadse and Cyclopidse, 

 which, in the formation of these clusters of eggs, give 

 forth a glairish fluid, soluble in water, which I have more 

 minutely described in a treatise on Dechelesthium stiirionis, 

 and Lern&opoda stettaia, and have called it the cementing 



organ." 



The intestine is a simple canal, which does not show 

 any appearance of an enlargement indicating a stomach. 

 In the fifth segment we find the two openings of the 

 sexual apparatus. 



The feet are very small, and the first four pairs are all 

 alike, consisting of a basal joint of comparatively large 

 size, and two branches, each composed of three short 

 articulations, furnished with tolerably long setse. The 

 fifth, or rudimentary pair of feet, is extremely small. It 

 is formed of two somewhat compressed joints, of nearly 

 equal length, the terminal one being provided with five 

 pretty long bristles. 



The abdomen is slender, and is divided into five joints, 

 which become gradually smaller as they succeed each 

 other. The last is slightly lobed at the extremity, and 

 sends off two long, thick, simple setae or bristles, and 

 several very much thinner and shorter ones. 



The external ovaries are very large, of an oval shape, 

 of a rosy colour, and contain a very great number of ova. 

 They take their origin from the fifth ring of the thorax, 

 where the opening of the sexual organs has been already 

 described to exist. 



The Nicothoe is found attached, often in considerable 

 numbers, to the gills of the common lobster. The animals 



* Nov. Act. Ces. Acad. Nat. Cur., xx, 102, 1813. 



