280 ORDER SYNODONTIA 



65. Synodontium fecundum n. sp. About forty setae occur on the neck; those 

 on the anterior part are about one-half, while those on the posterior part are one- 

 fourth, as long as the corresponding portion of the neck is wide. There are six 

 subdistinct lips, each with a somewhat forward-pointing, innervated, conoid 

 papilla. The pharynx is fairly well cutinized, and bears probably twelve closely 

 approximated odontia, forming a distinct circlet opposite the bases of the ceph- 

 alic setae; only their points are easily visible. The conoid neck becomes more 

 decidedly conoid near the head. At first sight the oesophagus appears as if com- 

 posed mainly of glands, which extend backward to the cardia. These glands are, 

 however, outside the oesophagus and empty near the bases of the odontia by 

 means of three or four ducts. At the nerve-ring the oesophagus is three-sevenths, 

 and finally one-half, as wide as the corresponding part of the neck, and ends pos- 

 teriorly in a faint, elongated, pyrif orm, valveless bulb. The lining of the oesoph- 

 agus is narrow; its musculature fine. The thin-walled intestine has a faint lumen 

 and is set off by a collum two-fifths as wide as the base of the neck and becomes 

 at once one-half as wide as the body. In cross-section it presents four to five 

 at aulm I Ib set (kl sulm ,. fcj ,., 15 _" 9i . cells. The scat- 



Is/ '1.8 ' 1.9 ' ' 't.6 ' Y* 2-4 "tered granules 

 (impll contained in the 



L . , 6 ' 9 . . 10 : 7*7 . ' 3 "-7 a.?- intestinal cells 

 i./ 1.6 1.6 2. 7^ Sr1 - 7 are of variable 



size, the largest being one-fifteenth as wide as 

 .fa ph the body. The nuclei of the intestinal cells are 

 one-seventh to one-eighth as wide as the body 

 at the base of the neck. Tail conoid from the 

 anus, but tapering faster near the anus. The 

 end of the spinneret is in the form of a hemi- 

 spherical button, the three sectors of which are 



- ] !/ L op * * 750 (S "* > SIHI eversible. so that the organ may appear three- 

 lobed. The ducts of the caudal glands are sep- 

 arate, practically to the spinneret pore. There are about fifteen ventrally sub- 

 median, and about ten dorsally submedian, slender, flexible, tapering setae on 

 each side of the tail of the male. There is a much smaller number of setae on the 

 tail of the female. The lateral fields are one-third as wide as the body. The 

 granular, ellipsoidal renette cell, two-thirds as long as the body is wide and two- 

 thirds as wide as long, is located at a distance behind the neck equal to the body 

 diameter. The obscure, rather broad nerve-ring is accompanied by distinct 

 and numerous nerve cells of large size, extending back to the base of the neck. 

 The large, elevated, conspicuous vulva leads to a conoid, rather muscular, cutin- 

 ized vagina accompanied by small, ellpisoidal glands. There is a small anterior 

 branch to the female sexual organs, about as long as the body is wide. The uterus 

 extends back to near the middle of the body. The eggs are one and one-half to 

 two times as long as the body is wide and one-fourth to one-third as wide as 

 long. Numerous, granular, spherical sperm cells, one-fifteenth as wide as the 

 body, are abundant near the middle of the body, disarranging the chain of eggs 

 in such a way as to suggest the presence of a spermatheca. The broad ovary 

 tapers gradually, and contains twenty to thirty ova arranged single file. The 

 egg, just before deposition, lies opposite the vulva, one-half of it being in the 

 small anterior branch of the uterus. The spicula are strong, somewhat slender, 

 sub-uniform, and rather blunt. Their proximal ends appear to lie ventrad from 

 the body-axis. The two strong, well-separated accessory pieces are one-fourth 



