20S RESEARCHES IN HELMINTHOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY. 

 [February, 1888. No. 553. See Bibliography.] 



Clnrtoptcnis from Florida. — Frof. Leidy directed attention to speci- 

 mens which were collected in the trip of Prof. Heilprin and Mr. 

 Willcox, at the mouth of the Manatee River, The .species appears 

 to be the Cha;toptcrus pergamcntacciis of Cuvier, originally described 

 from specimens from the West Indies. It is a remarkable form. 

 It belongs to the Tubicolse, or tube-living worms, but, unlike most 

 of these, is devoid of the numerous cephalic appendages, or tenta- 

 cles and gills. The tube is membranous and laminated in structure, 

 and it has the appearance of parchment. The two tubes collected 

 are i6 inches long by three-fourths of an inch in diameter and taper- 

 ing toward the ends. An incomplete worm, not well preserved ou 

 account of its delicacy, in its present condition is 9 inches long and 

 appears very narrow in comparison with the capacity of its tube. 

 The anterior division of the body, about an inch long, is flattened 

 and about half as wide, but narrowing behind, and is composed of 

 eight podal segments provided with dense bunches of lustrous golden 

 setae. The succeeding .segment, long and narrow, is provided with 

 a pair of wing-like appendages an inch long and each furnished 

 with two bundles of diverging setee. Then follow five long, narrow 

 segments with large membranous appendages, without setae. The 

 terminal segments, of which 15 remain in the specimen, are fur- 

 nished with pairs of long pointed appendages with bundles of setae. 



[February, 1888. Ibidem.] 



Cirolana Feasting on the Edible Crab. — Prof. Leidy stated that on 

 last Saturday, having occasion to go to Beach Haven, N. J., during 

 a leisure half-hour stroll along the shore he noticed here and there 

 a dead crab, Ca/tinectes hastatns, lying on the sand near the last 

 high-tide mark. The crabs observed happened to be all females, 

 and they appeared to have died recently, as .some were quite fresh 

 and showed no signs of decomposition. Others, broken open hy 

 removing the carapace, were found to have the body cavity swarm- 

 ing with a living isopod, the Cirolana conchartim, which had preyed 

 upon the organs and were variously colored by the food with which 

 they were gorged. From a single crab there were taken 108 of the 

 Cirolana, ranging from 15 to 22 mm. in length by 5 to 7 mm. in 

 breadth. 



The i.sopod is grayi.sh translucent above and whitish translucent 

 beneath, and centrally variously colored, brown, black, red, or 

 yellow, from the food contents. The dorsal plates are minutely 



