58 [February, 



a line broad, I found in Frederick Brook, at the head of the Bay of Fundy, New 

 Brunswick. A female {G. robtistus, Pr. A. N. S., v, 275), hardly narrowed at the 

 extremities, brown, rigid, with the head edged with dark brown, and the tail 

 slightly expanded, conical and obtuse, 6J inches long, and \ a line wide, was 

 obtained by Dr. Chas. H. Budd, from a boy, who informed him it had crept out 

 of the abdomen of the specimen of grasshopper which accompanied the worm. A 

 male and female were obtained by Mr. Schafhirt, from a single specimen of 

 Pterostichus fastidites Dejean. The length of each is about 3 inches ; the breadth of 

 the male \ of a line, of the female ^ of a line. 



171. Mermis albicans Siebold. 



Mermis elo7igata Leidy, Pr. A. N. S., v, 263. 



Mermis crassicaudata Leidy, Ibidem. 



Mermis ferruginea Leidy, lb. Body long, capillary, narrowed towards the ex- 

 tremities, most narrowed anteriorly. Head slightly dilated or not at all, trun- 

 cated, convex. Caudal extremity slightly curved, conoidal, obtuse. Color milk 

 white when the worm is parasitic, or is buried in the earth ; cream or yellow- 

 ish white, or light ochreous yellow, or light reddish brown when it lives in 

 water. In alcohol becomes translucent yellow, bright yellow, approaching to 

 orange, or brown. 



Eleven individuals (^Mermis elongata Pr. A. N. S., v, 263,) of a dusky yellowish 

 white, and from 6 to 18 inches long, by ^ to J of a line broad, were obtained by 

 Dr. Chas. H. Budd, in the early spring season, in a ditch emptying into the 

 Rancocas creek. New Jersey. Six specimens, opaque white in color, from 8 to 

 15 inches in length, were obtained by Samuel Powell, Esq., in digging in the 

 earth mould of his garden at Newport, R. I. One specimen, of a cream color, 

 22 inches long and |^ of a line broad, was obtained by Dr. William Gibson, from 

 a rivulet in Philadelphia county. I found four specimens of a brownish white, 

 from 9 to 16 inches long and from ^ to ^ of a line broad, in pools of fresh water, 

 among the rocks of the sea shore of Point Judith, R. I. One specimen {Mermis 

 crassicaudata Pr. A. N. S., v, 263,) opaque white, and 8 inches long, I found in a 

 ditch below Philadelphia. A specimen (Mermis ferruginea Pr. A. N. S., v, 275,) 

 from Brazil, contained in the collection of the Academy, is brown in color, and 

 measures 14^ inches long. A cream colored individual, 4 inches long and l-5thof 

 a line broad, was obtained from an apple by Major Le Conte, who, with great pro- 

 bability, supposed it had issued from the larva of a lepidopterous insect, in the 

 core of the fruit. Professor Agassiz sent me a specimen translucent yellowish 

 white in color, and 9 J inches long, and l-5th of a line wide, obtained from the 

 abdomen of Orchelium gracile Harris. Lastly, I have obtained specimens very 

 frequently from Locusta Carolina, of the meadows below Philadelphia, and oc- 

 casionally from the earth and ditches in the same locality. From one to six of 

 the worms occupy the body of a single insect, closely coiled among the viscera, 

 from the^iead to the end of the abdomen. The worms are opaque white, and 

 measure from 3 to 15 inches in length, and from \ to ^ of a line in breadth. 

 When the grasshoppers infested with these parasites are bruised, the worms 

 creep out and penetrate into the earth, as I have satisfied myself by careful ob- 

 servation. In alcohol the Mermis of the grasshopper assumes in time a bright 

 yellow hue. 



172. Mermis robusta Leidy. 



Filaria Lycosce Haldeman, Icong. Encyc. ii, Zool. 48. Body cylindrical, ro- 

 bust, rigid, smooth and shining, attenuated towards the extremities ; most 

 narrowed anteriorly. Head conical. Caudal extremity obtuse, imperforate. 



I found one specimen, of a pale pinkish white, 3 inches in length, and \ of a 

 line in breadth, which crept from the abdomen of a species of Lycosa with four 

 stripes on the cephalothorax and three on the abdomen, from New Jersey. The 

 specimen described by Mr. Haldeman, was pale reddish, and over five inches in 

 length, by 2-5ths of a line in breadth, and was obtained from Lycosa scutulata? 

 Heatz, in Pennsylvania. 



