562 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.55. 



tween the ventral rows of processes. All the processes are shorter 

 and smaller anteriorly and posteriorly, and wider and larger along 

 the center; they stop posteriorly at the contraction between the in- 

 testine and the rectum, and anteriorly at an equal distance from the 

 anterior end of the trunk. 



In Rebelula the system of processes begins at the junction of the 

 neck and trunk and ends just behind the longitudinal center of the 

 trunk. In this genus the anterior processes grow much more rapidly 

 than the posterior and branch profusely. They thus come to fill the 

 entire lumen of the trunk from wall to wall for about one-fourth 

 of its length, the ends of the branches flattening against the inner sur- 

 face of the wall on all sides. They then diminish rapidly laterally but 

 still reach the dorsal and ventral body wall. The combined mass as- 

 sumes something of a triangular outline, widest anteriorly and nar- 

 rowing to a point posteriorly. 



The branching of the processes destroj^s the appearance of being in 

 rows, and makes the mass look far more like a bunch of grapes than 

 is the case with the posterior processes of Sphyrion. Cornalia di?;- 

 covered this mass of processes in his ^^Lophoura edwardsii^'' but mis- 

 taking the nature of the intestine he called them blind appendages of 

 the stomach. 



He only represented them along the anterior margin, iiowever, and 

 did not see that they extended as well over the entire surface of the 

 anterior trunk. 



NERVOUS SYSTEM. 



We know nothing about the nervous system in any of the larval 

 stages, but in the matured adult it is practically the same as in the 

 Lernaeidae. There is, however, one important difference. In every 

 Lernaean genus the tripartite eye of the larva persists in the adult, 

 buried deeply in the tissues over the base of the esophagus, but still 

 easily recognized in cleared specimens. In the present family the 

 eye is entirely lacking and there is no trace of it in any genus. The 

 remains of the two esophageal ganglia can still be seen in sections 

 and the beginning of the ventral nerve cord. But no nerves can be 

 found in the neck or trunk either in sections or in cleared specimens. 

 Such nerves must exist, however, to control the various trunk mus- 

 cles, especially those connected with the passage of the eggs alon^ 

 the oviducts and their extrusion into the external Q,gg sacks. 



REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM. 



Male reproductive organs. — Tliese consist of a pair of testes situ- 

 ated in the posterior part of the head, a pair of nearly straight vasa 

 deferentia^ each surrounded for a portion of its length by a cement 

 gland, and a pair of spermatophore receptacles. The testes are dorsal 



