The OpisUiohranchiata of South Africa. 31 



iDeen caught, is wanting ; at Cape Point Lighthouse by shrimp-trawl 

 •on fine sand-bottom from a depth of 33 fms. 8 more were taken. 



They were very similar in size and colour, and were in a very 

 ■contracted condition in the formalin in which they were preserved ; 

 4 individuals were dissected. 



The length of the largest was 2 -3-3 "5 cm. by a breadth of 2-2-3 

 and a height of 1-5-2 ; the gill 10-16 mm. long by a breadth of 4-6 ; 

 the foot 15-16 mm. broad. The colour whitish or grayish whitish, 

 the back with a faint olive-gray network of lines and patches partly 

 bordering, partly covering the not very pronounced nodules. In 

 nearly all individuals the black oesophagus was very distinctly 

 visible through the surrounding tissues. 



The back covered all over with weak nodules. The rather 

 flattened gill with about 15-17 tufts of lamellae on each side of the 

 rhachis. The prsebranchial papilla very distinct, somewhat cleft. 

 A tail-gland not externally visible and a finger on the end of the 

 tail always absent. 



The mouth tube 4 mm. long, its inside blackish gray. The 

 hulhus pharyngeus whitish, together with the prominent rasp-sheath 

 7-5-8-10 mm. long by a breadth of 5-6 and a height of 4-4-5 mm. 

 The mandibular plates rather hard, grayish yellow ; their elements 

 (figs. 8, 9) as usual high, a little curved, columns of a height up to 

 ■0-29 mm. by a diameter of 0-04. The palate, which was longitudinally 

 and transversely wrinkled, was black, as were also the cheeks. Th 

 rasp of the tongue brownish yellow, containing 26-30-34 rows of 

 plates, in the sheath 18-20-25, the total number of series being thus 

 44-50-59. The number of plates in the rows seemed to amount to 

 :95. The plates pale yellow in the basal part, otherwise colourless ; 

 the height of the outermost about 0-08 mm., that of the largest 0-4. 

 On the narrow rhachis a fine longitudinal fold, sometimes broken in 

 pieces, but no trace of false plates. The plates (figs. 10, 11) essen- 

 tially as in the PL Meckelii, the outermost 4-8 without denticle. 



The ampulla of the duct of the glandula salivalis white or blackish, 

 but the continuation of the duct towards the mouth black. The 

 gl. ptyalina well developed, its tubes often covering the back of the 

 bulbus pharyngeus. 



The oesophagus black, on the inside velvet-black, 4-5-5 mm. long, 

 in the hinder part of a diameter of 3. The liver 12-16 mm. long by 

 a height and a breadth of 9-10, dirty-yellowish, or grayish, on 

 sections brownish. 



The anterior genital mass yellowish white, 8-10 mm. long by a 

 height of 4-5-7 and a breadth of 4-7 ; the prostata short-reniform, 

 its greatest diameter being 5 mm. ; the vas deferens as in the species 



