118 XEROPHILA ITALA. 
The DARTS or gypsobela are two in number, 4-53 mill. in length, and are com- 
paratively large for the size of the animal. They have a curved and sometimes 
a strongly twisted hollow shaft, usually terminating when mature in a compressed 
LAIN 
Fic. 176. Bic. Wf. Fic. 178. 
Enlarged details of the teliferous organs of Verophila itala L. 
Fic. 176.—Enlarged sectional view of the stylophore, showing the bilobation of the sac, and the 
darts in siti, x 4. 
Fic. 177.—More highly enlarged view showing the basal attachment of the dart to the fundus of 
the sac; from a dissection and sketch, by the late Mr. Charles Ashford. 
Fic. 178.—Gypsobelum or Love-dart of \. zta/a L., xX 63; after Schuberth. 
or flattened apex or point, the amount of compression varying, but the lateral edges 
do not develop into true blades. The base of each dart is without annulus, and no 
wider than the shaft, and rests upon the tubercle at the distal ends of the bilobed sac. 
When freshly extracted the shaft is always somewhat transparent, the central 
cavity being filled with liquid, retaining numerous air bubbles which disappear a 
few minutes after extraction, after which the darts assume an opaque white aspect. 
The twin darts are usually but not invariably of equal size and the same degree of 
curvature, while their concave surfaces always face each other, and their free- 
pointed ends cross in their natural positions at rest within the sac, and would con- 
tinue to further diverge on their extrusion. 
Darts are almost invariably present in adult specimens, leading to the view that 
the spicula are not invariably lost during the preludes to conjugation, or that other- 
wise they are speedily renewed. 
The JAW is quite crescentic in shape, about 15 millimetres from side to side, and 
half millimetre in altitude; of a somewhat rufous- 
fawn colour, darkening in the thicker and over- 
lapping parts, and bearing about eight transverse 
and somewhat divergent ribs, which are unusually 
broad and prominent especially medially, and pro- 
ject beyond the cutting margin, and still more 
strikingly on the upper border; there are also, some- 
times, one or more slightly indicated ribs at one or Fie: 179. \andibles oresaenee 
both extremities of the jaw, and one or more per- _\erofhila itala \.., x 20, Chipstead, 
ceptible lines or thickenings parallel with the upper Surrey, from a preparation by Dr. 
and lower margins. EW Bowe: 
The RADULA is of the usual oblong shape, about 3 millimetres in length and 1 
millimetre in breadth, composed of 120 or more transverse rows of somewhat 
similarly sized teeth, which are slightly convergent to the median line of the 
radula; each transverse’row of teeth is composed of a central longitudinal row of 
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Fic. 180.—Representative denticles from the radula of Veropfila ttala Linné, also showing the 
relative positions of the cutting points of the succeeding row of denticles, from Chipstead Common, 
Surrey, prepared and micro-photographed by Dr. E. W. Bowell (x 330). 
c. central or median tooth ; a. admedian or lateral teeth ; #. marginal teeth or uncini. 
tricuspid teeth, each formed of a strong central cusp, with a supporting ectocone 
on each side, flanked by about twelve admedian or lateral teeth, which are mostly 
