UKOGENITAL SYSTEM OF MYXINOIDS 77 



practically nothing regarding the urogenital system of the North- 

 American Mjodne. The latter animal differs from the European 

 Myxine glutinosa sufficiently to cause some writers to regard the 

 two as different species. Girard ('58) found specific differences 

 ''in the external aspect of the snout and buccal aperture, the 

 insertion and proportional development of the tentacles, the form 

 of the body, and .... the presence of a membraneous 

 fin-hke expansion along the abdomen," and proposed the name 

 Myxine limosa for the North- American species. Putnam ('73), 

 who compared specimens obtained off the north-eastern Atlantic 

 coast, from the straits of Magellan, and in the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, collected off the Engfish coast, however, consid- 

 ers the American animal as merely a variety of Myxine glutinosa. 

 The writer has been unable to obtain specimens of the European 

 animal for comparison. Judging from the literature, there is a 

 great difference in the sizes of the two animals. Putnam's speci- 

 mens from Liverpool measured 10 1 to 12 inches long (26 to 30 

 cm.) . Nansen, using animals caught near Bergen, and Schi-einer, 

 who caught hundreds in Drobaksfjord, reported the largest 

 adults as 35 cm. long. From Cunningham's account it is to be 

 inferred that the largest adults caught by him off the Enghsh 

 coast and near Bergen were from 25 to 42 cm. long, most of them 

 being from 33 to 35 cm., these containing the largest eggs. None 

 of the investigators of the European Myxine report animals 

 longer than 42 cm. The single North-American specimen used 

 by Girard was 11^ inches long (about 29.25 cm.), and the one ex- 

 amined by Putnam was 12 inches (about 30.5 cm.). The writer 

 has been unable to find in the literature any other measurements 

 of the North-American Myxine. The adult animals used in the 

 present study range from 50 to 79 cm. in length, averaging 62 

 cm., which is almost twice the length reported for the adult 

 European Myxine. Three specimens, measuring in length 31, 

 33, and 36.5 cm., respectively, are in a very j^oung stage, the geni- 

 tal ridge being only 2 to 3 mm. wide along its entire course and 

 the eggs being nothing more than dots. Size alone, of course, is 

 not a specific character, but such a great difference as the above 

 is suggestive. 



