318 ORDER ANAXONCHIA 



with numerous yellowish granules. In the body cavity at the cardiac collura, 

 there are three ellipsoidal groups of cells, two dorsally submedian and one ven- 

 tral or nearly so. These groups contain eight to ten nuclei, and one of them is 

 seen to be connected to a distinct, refractive strand, extending forward along 

 the surface of the oesophagus. These groups of cells have their nuclei close 

 together and seem to have a general membrane covering them. In addition to 

 these groups of cells, there are two other granular bodies, ventrally submedian, 

 each containing a single, strongly staining nucleus, and a second body which 

 does not stain so strongly. The structure of these latter is suggestive of that of 

 the ordinary renette cell, but their connections have not been made out. Rec- 

 tum somewhat longer than the anal body diameter. The three caudal glands 

 are arranged in a close tandem in front of, opposite to and behind the anus. 

 Each is a large cell with a protoplasmic network, in the midst of which the single 

 nucleus is slung. The lateral fields are about one fourth as wide as the body and 

 are composed of two ranges of cells with a space between them, in which lie 

 nuclei belonging to cells of a different group. Renette unknown. From the 

 slightly raised anus, the arcuate tail is conoid to the terminus, which has a 

 diameter about one third to one half as great as that of the base of the tail. 

 From the very slightly elevated vulva, the well cutinized vagina extends fully 

 half way across the body. The ovaries reach half way back to the vulva and 

 contain ten to fifteen ova arranged, for the most part, single file. The moder- 

 ately thin-shelled eggs are twice as long as the body is wide and one-third as 

 wide as long. They occur in the uteri one at a time. The spermatozoa in the 

 uterus are one-seventh as wide as the body. The conoid, arcuate tail of the 

 male begins to taper from a short distance in front of the anus. The six sup- 

 plementary organs occupy a distance equal to the length of the tail. The pos- 

 terior supplement is nearly opposite the posterior thirds of the spicula; the 

 second, third and fourth succeed each other without intervening spaces, in 

 such a way that the third and fourth are pretty nearly opposite the proximal 

 ends of the spicula. The fifth is separated by a greater space from the fourth, 

 and the sixth is about as far from the fifth as the fifth is from the fourth. The 

 fifth and sixth are of smaller size than the others, the inconspicuous sixth being 

 the smallest of all. Their apices are more transparent than the other portions. 

 An unusual feature is the presence of nerve endings between the organs. It 

 is possible that nearer the anus still than any described, there is another incon- 

 spicuous organ of somewhat the same character. The strongly arcuate, some- 

 what acute, yellowish spicula are about twice as long as the anal body-diam- 

 eter. They appear to be widest in the middle and to taper both ways. The 

 cephalated portion of the spicula are cut off obliquely. The proximal ends lie 

 a little to the dorsal side of the body-axis. The accessory pieces are for the 

 main portion of their length not very conspicuous. Surrounding the distal 

 ends of the spicula, however, there is a rather prominent portion which must 

 be reckoned a portion of the accessory apparatus. Oblique copulatory mus- 

 cles are present for a distance twice as great as the space occupied by the sup- 

 plementary organs. The ejaculatory duct is about one-third, and the vas 

 deferens a little more than one-third, as wide as the body. It remains uncer- 

 tain whether there is one testis or two, but the evidence seems to favor the 

 supposition that there is one only, and that its blind end lies about as far behind 

 the base of the neck as the nerve-ring is in front of it. 

 Habitat: Larat, East Indies. Marine. Fig. 98, p. 317. 



