126 KANSAS UNIVERSITY SCIENCE BULLETIN. 



largei- than oral sucker, and in anterior lialf of body. Pharynx present; 

 oesophagus short or wanting; intestinal cseca reach about to the middle 

 of the body or a little past it. Excretory vesicle very large, Y-shaped, 

 extending into the forward end of body. Genital pore in front of the 

 acetabulum often to the left or the right of the median line. Testes two, 

 usually lobate, in the same transverse plane near the middle of the body; 

 cirrus-sac often long, containing a vesicula seminalis, and in front of the 

 testes; yolk glands latei-al in position and occupying the middle third of 

 the body; Laurer's canal present; viterus composed of a descending and 

 an ascending limb, and extending to the hinder end of the body; recep- 

 taculuin seininis absent or minute. Parasite in the mouth or air-pas- 

 sages of snakes and in the intestines of turtles. 



Type: Renifer ellipticus Pratt. Additional species: R. 

 elongatus Pratt, R. variabilis (Leidy) Luhe, R. solitariu.-; 

 Looss, R. zschokkei Volz, R. acetabidaris Crow, R. megasorchis 

 Crow, R. kansensis Crow. 



Renifer megasorchis sp. nov. 



This worm was found attached to the wall of the uterus 

 of a large Natrix rhomhifera, a common nonpoisonous snako. 

 It is a comparatively large worm, pinkish in color and slightly 

 lanceolate in form. The body is widest just posterior of the 

 middle and tapers to blunt points at both ends, but more 

 rapidly to the posterior end. The ventral surface is flat or 

 slightly elliptical, the dorsal surface cylindrical. In length the 

 body measures 5 millimeters; the width at the widest point, 

 1.72 millimeters; thickness, .92 millimeter. The body is 

 covered with short spines arranged in transverse rows, the 

 spines in each row alternating with the row proximal to it. 

 The spines are slightly longer and less numerous towards the 

 posterior end of the body. The two suckers are sessile. The 

 oral sucker is subterminal and measures .46 millimeter in 

 length and .43 millimeter in width. The acetabulum is slightly 

 larger than the oral sucker and is .48 millimeter in diameter. 

 It is situated in the median line in the second fourth of the 

 ventral surface. 



The digestive tract consists of pharynx, oesophagus and in- 

 testinal caeca. The pharynx measures .247 millimeter in 

 length and .226 millimeter in diameter. It is a very muscular 

 organ, the radially disposed fibers constituting the principal 

 part, with a very thin layer of circular fibers on the outs'de. 

 The oesophagus is a small, round, straight tube, .06 millimeter 

 in diameter and .32 millimeter long. Both the pharynx and 



