NEW MALLOPHAGA. 439 



rious in form, and whose functions are not definitely ap- 

 parent, although they probably serve in some way for 

 rasping or comminuting the food, or perhaps for holding 

 it. 



In the ventral wall of the pharynx is imbedded a chit- 

 inous rod or shaft, bearing two prongs at each end (plate 

 lx, fig. ii, and fig. 6, hy .) . The shaft is rather long and 

 slender, with a swelling posterior to the middle. The 

 posterior prongs are curved outward and backward, and 

 also a little upward around the oesophagus. Their bases 

 are very wide but they soon become narrower. Termin- 

 ally each is somewhat expanded and ends bluntly. The 

 anterior half of the wide basal portions is much thinner 

 than the rest, and the shaft appears between the two as 

 a wide elevated ridge, continuous with the posterior 

 thickened borders. A large oval foramen, having its long 

 axis extending from within outwardly and posteriorly, is 

 situated between the thin part, the thickened shaft, and 

 the posterior elevated margin. The anterior fork projects 

 into the mouth, dorsal to the anterior end of the labium, 

 in the position of a hypopharynx. The prongs of this 

 bifurcation are much smaller than those of the other and 

 project outward and forward. The entire length of the 

 structure in a specimen measured is .52 mm. The part 

 projecting is about a fifth of the whole. All but this latter 

 part is imbedded in the ventral wall of the pharynx and 

 is not visible from above. It is evident that it must be de- 

 veloped from an invaginated portion of the cuticle which 

 became strongly chitinized and constricted off from that 

 lining the mouth. The two anterior prongs have on their 

 anterior edges each a padlike, soft, unchitinized structure. 

 Each pad is distally surmounted on the dorsal surface by 

 a large cluster of rather long, thick, curved processes, 

 radiating from a common center and curving upwards. 



