288 ALLAN HANCOCK PACIFIC EXPEDITIONS VOL. 2 



Genus CARCINONEMERTES Coe 

 Only one species of this genus has been found on the Pacific coast. 



58. Garcinonemertes epialti Coe, 1902 



C. epialti Coe, 1904, 1905, 1905a. 



Habitat. Adults live among egg clusters of the kelp crab Epialtus pro- 

 ductus and presumably of other species of crabs. 



Distribution. At present known only from Monterey Bay, California. 



Family Ototyphlonemertidae 



Genus OTOTYPHLONEMERTES Diesing 



Only a single species of this highly specialized genus has been found 

 on the Pacific coast. 



59. Ototyphlonemertes spiralis, new species 



(Plate 31, fig. 41) 



This species is closely similar to O. macintoshi Burger but differs in 

 numerous details from the descriptions of the few specimens of the latter 

 species that have been available for study. It can be readily distinguished 

 from all other Pacific coast nemerteans by the pair of statocysts on the 

 dorsal side of the ventral ganglia (Fig. 41). 



Body. Minute; filiform in full extension; somewhat thickened and 

 usually drawn into a knot or closely coiled spiral when contracted. Head 

 slender, not demarcated from body. Body of firm consistency and not 

 easily ruptured. 



Size. Upward of 3-5 cm in length and only 0.3-0.5 mm in diameter 

 when sexually mature and fully extended ; most individuals much smaller. 



Color. White, gray, straw color, or yellow ; more deeply colored an- 

 teriorly; brain region pinkish. Minute brownish granules in surface epi- 

 thelium sometimes influence the general coloration. 



Ocelli. Absent. 



Statocysts. A single pair of small, spherical, highly refractive stato- 

 cysts situated in dorsal surface of ventral ganglia. Each statocyst is about 

 % the diameter of ventral ganglion. The statolith is spherical and com- 

 posed of about 8, 12, or 16 transparent colorless globules united com- 

 pactly and symmetrically (Fig. 41). The size of the statolith is nearly 

 uniform in all mature individuals, but the size of the component globules 

 is correlated with the number present. In such individuals the statocysts 



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