220 



BULLETIN 54, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



NEROCILA ACUMINATA Schicedte and Meinert. 



Nerocila ucamluata Schicedte and Meinert, Naturhistorisk Tidsski'ift (3), XIII, 

 1881-1883, pp. 48-50, pi. iii, figs. 5-6. — Richardson, American Naturalist, 

 XXXIV, 1900, p. 220; Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., XXIII, 1901, p. 527; Trans. 

 Conn. Acad. Sci., XI, 1902, p. 291. 



Local It le.s. — Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico; St. Anna, Mexico; 

 Louisiana; Pensacola and St. Marys River, Florida; Fort Macon, 

 North Carolina; Newpoint, Virginia; Biloxi, Mississippi; Bermudas; 

 Lake Harley, Florida; south Florida. 



Parasites of the saw-fish; Ch-cetodipterus faher (side of body); 

 Splieroldt's inncuiatus,' Alufera Hcha'pfii; Lachnolaimus viaxinius (on 

 fin). 



Bod}^ ovate, a little more than one and a half times longer than 

 wide, 13 mm,: 21 mm. 



Head, somewhat c^uadrate, as long- as wide, 1 mm.: 4 mm,, with the 

 anterior margin almost straight, slightly rounded, and the posterior 



margin produced in three lobes, the 



a .—'1 •< 



middle one being nuich the larger. 

 E3'es al)sent. The first pair of antenmv 

 are composed of eight articles and ex- 

 tend to the post-lateral lobe of the head. 

 I'he second pair of antenna^ are com- 

 posed of nine articles and extend just a 

 little beyond the first pair of antennie. 

 The maxillipeds have a palp of two 

 articles. The palp of the mandibles is 

 composed of three articles. 



The first segment of the thorax is 

 longer than any of the three following 

 segments; the fifth, sixth, and seventh 

 segments are longer than any of the 

 three preceding segments, but gradu- 

 ally decrease in length, the fifth being the longest. The body is l)road- 

 est at the fifth and sixth segments. The post-lateral angles of all the 

 segments arc produced backward in long acute processes, increasing in 

 length from the first to the seventh segment. The epimera are dis- 

 tinctly separated from the segments, with the exception of the first. 

 They are long, narrow plates, becoming more acutely pointed at thoir 

 posterior extremities from the first to the seventh. Tlie epimera of 

 the second segment extend beyond the post-latei"al angles of the seg- 

 ment; those of the third segment extend to the post-lateral angles of 

 the segment; all the others reach the posterior margins of the seg- 

 ments, l)ut do not extend to the extremity of the post-lateral angles. 



Flu. 222.— Nerocil.\ acuminata (Ak 

 TER Schicedte and Meinert). a 

 Adult female. 6, Lateral view 

 (Enlarged.) 



