460 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [8] 
Family TETRABOTHRIID2®. 
ECHENEIBOTHRIUM Van Beneden. 
Echeneibothrium variabile Van Beneden. 
[Plate I, Figs. 9-13. ] 
Echeneibothrium variabile Van Beneden, Mém. Acad. Belgique, xxv, 117, tab. 
iii, 1-4, 6-15. G.R. Wagener, Nov. Act. Nat. Cur., xxiv, Suppl., 85, tab. 
Xxli, 280-282. Van Beneden, Mém. Vers Intest., 122 and 366, tab. xv, 
6-8. Diesing, Revis.der Ceph. Ab. Par., 267. Olsson, Lunds Univers 
Arssk., tom. iii, 38, 40, tab.i, 15, 16. 
Tetrabothrium (Echeneibothrium) variabile Diesing, in Sitzungsb., xiii, 1854, 
581. 
Larval state, Van Beneden, Mém. Acad, Belgique, xxv, tab. iii, 5. Diesing, 
Sitzungsb. der kais, Akad., xiii, 1854, 562. G. R. Wagener, l. c., 85, tab. 
Xx, 279. Van Beneden, Mém. Vers Intest., 122, tab. xv, 5. 
Bothriocephalus spherocephalus? Deslongchamps, Encyel. Méth., ii, 150. 
Eecheneibothrium spherocephalum Diesing, Revis. der Ceph. Par., 267. 
The characters given for this species by Diesing, following Van 
Beneden, are: 
Bothria four, pedicellate and highly versatile, at times linear or oval, 
at others cochleariform or calyciform, with a few transverse costs, and 
divided into several loculi by a longitudinal partition. Muscular pro- 
boscis (myzorhynchus) large, subglobose, retractile, with a circular aper- 
ture (os) in the apex. Neck long. Anterior segments of body broader 
than long, median quadrate, ultimate oval. Genital apertures mar- 
ginal, alternate. Penis armed with spines, scarcely bristly at base. 
Length as much as 100™™, 
In the latter part of August, 1884, I obtained several specimens of 
Echeneibothria from the spiral valve of the common Skate (Raia erinacea) 
which I have for the present referred to Z. variabile Van Beneden. Some 
of the specimens possess characters which are given by Diesing as be- 
longing to EF. sphwrocephalum Dies. (Revis. der. Ceph. Par., 267). It is 
probable, however, that these two species are identical, as indicated 
by Diesing : “ Species heec (H. variabile) cum precedente (EZ. spharoceph- 
alum) fortasse identica.” 
A few sketches and measurements were made of the specimens while 
they were still alive, but a pressure of other duties prevented a careful 
study of them then. When I found time to study them carefully they 
had lain for some time in alcohol and many of the segments had sep- 
arated. There are two distinct types of head, one represented in Fig. 
9, made from the living specimen; the other represented in Fig. 13, 
made from an alcoholic specimen. Other alcoholic specimens are iden- 
tical in form with that shown in Fig.9. In the first mentioned the 
bothria are somewhat oval; pedicels moderately extended; the border 
of the sucking disks thickened, marked with radiating lines, and gath- 
ered or puckered into a few large folds. The proboscis is globose, re- 
