jFoy.'ii/i'. 



i-n 



The EcHiURiD.E, wliicli were foriiK'rly classeil witii the (iephjreans, arc now known 



to be true annelids, but their precise attinities a 

 apj)en(lix. They are easily recognized 1)\ ihi 

 jiair of hooked bristles on the ventral suit m, 

 and by the two crowns of bristles which otcui 

 around the caudal extremity of some tonii'. 

 The three principal genera are Ediiuris, Tlud- 

 asuet/ta and Jionellki. The last-nientioiud i^ 

 very striking in a])pearance, as will be si tn b\ 

 the figure of Botidlia viridis. Oskar Schmidt 

 referring to his visit to the Dalmatian isl nid 

 Sesina, writes: "I noticed about a foot undti 

 water, beneath a large stone, an intensely gn m 

 worm-like moving creature; I quickly liftid 

 the stone, and my supposed worm revcikd 

 itself as the two-pronged proboscis of Bondlin 

 We kept it alive in a basin for a day, and ne\( i 

 tired of watching its movements." Thi bod\ 

 is covered with little warts, and, like the pro- 

 boscis, is vivid green ; it is capable of manifold 

 contractions and constrictions, and the jiroboscis 

 is an even greater jiroteus, and may stretch oui 

 in large specimens to half a yard in length. 



Myzostoma is another puzzle to zoologists, 

 but is best guessed to be a degenerated para- 

 sitic annelid. The geinis includes a consider- 

 able nmnber of species which are all external 

 parasites of the Comatulas ; they are snnill, 

 disc-shaped, have four pairs of lateral suckers 

 on the ventral surface, and a retractile paj)il- 

 lated proboscis, and there are five pairs of 

 cirrus-bearing false feet. 



uncertain, so we will sli|) them in by 



Sub-Class III. — Entekopneusti. 



There now remains only one aberrant ly|)e for us to consider, namely, the whale's 

 tongue. The singular and little known animals we have studied as isolated forms do 

 not fall readily into any of the great classes, and this very fact of their standing so 

 much apart renders them so much the more interesting to the thoughtful naturalist. 

 Many of these species are rare, and it becomes therefore the more desirable to call 

 general attention to them, in order that they may be sought and found by those who 

 might otherwise let precious o]iportunities go by unutilized. Very few of them have 

 yet been recorded from America, but there cannot be much question that niany of 

 them, together with others equally singular but yet iniknown forms, will, in tlu' future, 

 be discovered in our fauna. 



The whale's tongue, Balanofjlossiis, so named from a fancied resemblance, is a 

 very interesting animal to the scientific zoologist. The adult worm was originally 

 discovered atXa]iles; the free-swimming embryo was subsequently named Tornaria, 



