Il6 RITTER 



habits, particularly its non-burrowing habit, may, it seems to 

 me, be correlated with its primitiveness among Enteropneusta. 



The characteristic Balanoglossus odor is stronger and more 

 persistent in this species than in any other with which I am ac- 

 quainted. My alcoholic specimens still retain it (now nearly a 

 year since they were taken) so strongly that in handling them it 

 clings to one's hands for some time in spite of vigorous washing. 



I may mention here that between Dr. Coe and myself more 

 than one hundred specimens were collected, so that I have had 

 ample material to work with. I have sectioned about twenty 

 individuals in various ways, so that every anatomical point has 

 been confirmed by a goodly number of examinations, and all 

 tell essentially the same story so far as the important facts are 

 concerned. 



Perhaps in view of the great variation which Spengel, Willey, 

 Hill, and others have found in the number and character of the 

 proboscis pores in some other species, I ought to expressly state 

 that I have given particular attention to this point in Harrimania 

 maculosa, and in not a single instance have I failed to find both 

 present and equally well developed. 



SPECIAL REMARKS CONCERNING THE NOTOCHORD. 



Although in the present communication I can neither describe 

 in detail the structure of the animal nor discuss in full the theo- 

 retical conclusions to which I am led by the study of this and 

 the other species in my possession, a brief consideration of a 

 few points beyond what has already been suggested must be 

 given. And first, because most important, something more 

 about the notochord — and at the outset a word concerning the 

 use of the term as applied to the organ. It is well known that 

 Bateson (1886) was the first to contend for the homology of the 

 organ with the notochord of vertebrates ; and hence that it was 

 he who first designated it by this name. Spengel (1893), as is 

 also now well known to all zoologists who have interested them- 

 selves in the problem of chordate phylogeny, takes strong 

 grounds against Bateson's view, and consequently refuses to use 

 the name notochord, but adopts the term ' Eicheldarm.' And 

 recently Willey (1S99), whose utterances on all matters pertain- 



