154 BULLETIN: MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



This is a very slender thread-like species, capable of great exten- 

 sion and contraction. Individuals may be extended till they 

 resemble a very fine thread, 7 to 15 cm. or more in length, Init 

 when disturbed commonly coil themselves into a closely wound 

 spiral. Body usually rather thicker in the middle and tapering 

 toward both extremities. Head very long, acutely pointed when 

 extended. Proboscis-pore situated ventrally. Mouth very far back ; 

 commonly distant from tip of snout four to five times as far as is 

 the brain. 



Ocelli. — Wanting in adults, although the embryos are provided 

 with a single pair soon after leaving the egg. 



Color. — Usually whitish or pale yellow throughout, but some 

 specimens have a distinct reddish tinge, and some are gray, green- 

 ish, or pale green. 



Habitat. — The species is very common well up toward high- 

 water mark under stones in muddy places, among decaying mus- 

 sels, etc. The worms were commonly found where the mud was 

 black, slimy, and very foul. Scores of specimens were sometimes 

 found under a single stone. They were often associated with 

 slender reddish nematodes. Very abundant at New Metlakahtla ; 

 Glacier Bay ; Sitka ; Orca, Prince WiUiam Sound ; and at other 

 places on the Pacific Coast of Alaska (Coe, :01). The species is 

 also common on the coast of New England, and is likewise found 

 along the shores of northern Europe and in the Mediterranean. 



Taeniosoma Stirapson. 



Taeniosoma Stimpson, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., p. 162, 1857. 

 Polia Delle Chiaje, Mem. sulla storia e notomia degli animali 



senza vertebre del regno di Napoli, Naples, 1823-28, 

 Etipolia, Hubrecht, Report of Challenger Exped, Zool., 19, 1887, 

 Eupolia Biirger, Fauna u. Flora von Neapel. Monogr. 22, p. 598, 



1895. 

 Taeniosoma Coe, Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., 3, p. 61, 1901. 



For reasons stated elsewhere (Coe, : 01, p. 4) it seems absolutely 

 necessary to adopt for this genus the name given by Stimpson in 

 1857 rather than accept that of Hubrecht of 30 years later, even 

 though most European writers have ignored Stimpson's brief, but 

 careful, diagnoses. 



