826 WINTERTON C. CURTIS 
tabulation is not given since it is merely a compilation and the 
important point ascertained can be briefly stated; namely that 
crustacea of various sorts, shrimps, amphipods, isopods, crabs, 
etc., are an important food with almost all these fish. In cases 
like the squeteague and blue-fish, where they are not so important 
an item, it is noticeable that various crustacea-eating fish are a 
common food. This would account for the great numbers of 
the Scolex in the squeteague, which would then be like a sieve in 
which were retained many larvae which had come originally from 
crustacea through the medium of another fish. The flounder, 
Paralicthys dentatus, is the other fish in which Linton has found 
the Scolex most abundant. Its food consists of smaller fish and 
a large proportion of various crustacea, so that in this case the 
S. polymorphus might be obtained directly from crustacea, or 
indirectly from another fish. I have also tabulated the food of 
the fishes from which Linton has not recorded the Scolex to see 
whether crustacea form as large an element in their food supply, 
but no satisfactory facts can be gathered for the reason that the 
list of those containing the larva comprises the greater number 
of our smaller and more common fishes and because, as Linton 
expressly states, no systematic search has been made and hence 
the fact that the larvae have not been recorded from any fish 
may have little importance. 
I quite agree with Linton’s suggestion that this widely distrib- 
uted larva, though it does not resolve itself into several easily rec- 
ognizable types in the larval condition, may eventually be shown 
to represent the young of more than one cestode, and if I am cor- 
rect in my conclusion that the 8. polymorphus with which my 
experiments were made develops into Phoreiobothrium trilo- 
culatum, whereas the form with which Monticelli worked is the 
young of Calliobothrium filicolle, this may be the beginning of 
evidence which will give Linton’s interpretation a secure foun- 
dation and thus the name ‘polymorphus,’ which seems originally 
to have been given because an individual larva of this sort can 
assume such diversity of shape, may come to have a new signifi- 
cance from the existence of many species under a guise which 
does not show differences by which each may be recognized. 
. 
