ALASKA NEMERTEANS 25 



curved. The central stylet is slender, extremely sharply pointed, and 

 gracefully curved like a sabre or scythe. There are two accessory 

 stylet pouches, and each commonly contains 5 to 7 slender stylets 

 curved like the central one, and of approximately the same size (pi. 

 vni, %. 3). 



Habitat. This species was found in the greatest abundance at nearly 

 all the collecting stations between Victoria, B. C, and Dutch Harbor, 

 Unalaska. It occurred everywhere along the shore, and was most 

 plentiful near high water mark, crawling over the thick growth of 

 mussels and seaweeds. Often a number of individuals were found 

 coiled together in a single slimy mass, and on being disturbed would 

 crawl apart and move sluggishly about, but usually made no effort at 

 concealment. Similar masses were met with under stones in very 

 muddy localities, and often where the water was very brackish. This 

 is probably the most abundant species of Nemertean on the Alaska 

 coast, and is found nearer high water mark and in more brackish water 

 than almost any other species. 



The species has previously been recorded from the coasts of Eng- 

 land, the northern shores of Germany and France, the Mediterranean, 

 and Madeira. It was also found by Stimpson under stones between 

 tides in San Francisco harbor and described as E. viride. 



An excellent and detailed account of the minute anatomy of this 

 species is given in Burger's Monograph of the Nemerteans of the Gulf 

 of Naples. 1 



Specimens collected in Alaska in June and July were filled with 

 nearly mature genital products, in closely packed, but irregularly 

 arranged pouches. The genital glands were often noticeable from the 

 exterior because of their pale color. 



7. EMPLECTONEMA BURGERI sp. nov. 

 pi. 11, figs. 1,2; pi. viii, fig. 1 ; p1. xii, fig. 3. 



Body long, flattened both above and below, ribbon-like, as thick 

 near the edges as in the median line ; head usually narrower than the 

 parts immediately following ; posterior extremity slender. The rhyn- 

 chodasum opens on the ventral side of the tip of the snout ; a pair of 

 shallow lateral slits occur just in front of the mouth. 



The worms attain a length of more than a meter, and are 5 mm. 

 or more in width. Like other species of the genus the integument is 

 furnished with a vast amount of mucus. 



1 Fauna u. Flora des Golfes von Neapel. Monogr. 22, 1895. 



