PARASITES OF GALVESTON BAY FISHES — CHANDLER 129 



Class CESTODA 

 Family TETRARHYNCHIDAE Cobbold, 1864 



TENTACULARIA LEPIDA, new species 



Plate 7 



SpecijiG diagnosis. — Head and neck very long and slender, with an 

 annular constriction immediately behind contractile bulbs where 

 neck joins tail-like blastocyst. Two lateral heart-shaped bothria, 

 emarginate behind, about 550/;. long, and 450/a to 550/* wide at pos- 

 terior end. Head and neck anterior to bulbs (pars vaginalis) 2.5 to 

 3 mm long. Just behind bothria neck only about 135/li to 170/* broad 

 in lateral view; neck flares a little in bulbar region, reaching diam- 

 eter of 320/* to 540/x at postbulbar constriction. Tail-like blastocyst 

 1.5 to 2,5 mm long, nearly cylindrical, with diameter of 300/x to 350/*. 

 Contractile bulbs about 400//, to 500/i long and about 120/* broad, very 

 close together, and collectively forming pear-shaped body. Each 

 bulb with dense mass of fibers on inner wall; thickness of these 

 muscular masses increases to a maximum at a point about two-thirds 

 distance from anterior to posterior end, and then decreases again. 

 A few fibers cross through central area between bulbs, holding latter 

 together in a compact manner. Appearance and structure of bulbs 

 as in plate 7, figures 1, 2, 5, and 6. Slender proboscis retractors at- 

 tached anteriorly on inner wall of bulbs. Proboscides estimated to 

 be between 1.5 and 2 mm long, cylindrical, with diameter of about 

 45/1 to 50/x, armed with hooks of various kinds, form and arrange- 

 ment of which are shown in plate 7, figure 4. Largest hooks in each 

 spiral arranged in two groups of five hooks each, three elongate and 

 only moderately curved, and two shaped somewhat like a cat's claw 

 and sheath. At point where claw joins sheath these hooks very 

 broad dorsoventrally and very thick. On side of jDroboscis opposite 

 these two sets of hooks a single row of small round plates, in a con- 

 tinuous series, two plates to each whorl of hooks. On either side of 

 this row of plates a close group of three slender spines, and between 

 these and the three slender hooks of each group of five a single very 

 slender spine. Maximum length attained by any hooks about 20/i. 

 Little difference in size or arrangement of hooks on different parts of 

 proboscides. Proboscis sheaths coiled in characteristic manner 

 throughout length of neck. Numerous granular bodies in neck about 

 20/* in diameter ; these begin about one-fourth length of neck behind 

 bothria and continue to anterior ends of contractile bulbs, being 

 somewhat more numerous posteriorly; granular bodies for most part 

 apparently round and sessile (pi. 7, fig. 3) but actually attached to 

 walls of neck by slender stalks, and closely similar to granular bodies 



