The Occurrence of Polygordius Adult 
at Laguna Beach 
William A. Hilton 
For a number of years now we have taken Branchiostoma just 
off shore in rather coarse sand, but it was not until the summer of 
1920 that we began to look for archiannelids. A few doubtful 
specimens were obtained from sea weeds but nothing that we could 
be sure were the animals sought. We never thought to search the 
sand in which Branchiostoma was taken until after reading in the 
monograph on Polygordius how the creatures were obtained near 
Naples. With the hint that these animals were sometimes asso- 
ciated we examined with great care some hundreds of pounds of 
coarse sand in which some few Branchiostoma had been found and 
from this two specimens were obtained, one dead and one living. 
These were without question of the genus Polygordius although to 
make.the matter more certain sections were made. Although the 
genus is certain, the species remains undetermined because the 
caudal ends of the animals were not perfect. 
The living specimen was very active. At first it was taken to 
be a rather long round worm but the characteristic antennae at the 
head region caused it to receive more attention. 
So far as I can tell, this is the first record of the adult of Poyl- 
gordius being found in North America in its natural environment 
at least, for some have been reared from the larval forms at Woods 
Hole. 
(Contribution from the Zological Laboratory of Pomona Col- 
lege.) 
