340 



ORDER AXAXOXCHIA 



as wide as the corresponding portion of the neck. The rather prominent lining 

 of the oesophagus finds expression in about three parallel refractive lines, occu- 



pying a space equal to two-fifths its width. The 

 fine musculature is more or less pigmented. There 

 is a decided thickening of the lining in the cardiac 

 swelling. There is no cardia. The thin-walled 

 intestine presents a faint lumen, and becomes at 

 once three-fifths as wide as the body. Cardiac col- 

 lum one-fourth as wide as the neck. From the 

 more or less continuous anus, the inconspicuous 

 rectum leads inward a distance one and one-fourth 

 times as great as the anal body-diameter. The 

 postanal region has the appearance of lacking one 

 of the regular striae. Colorless granules of vari- 

 able size are scattered in the intestinal cells. The 

 largest of them are about half as wide as one of the 

 annules. The conoid, subarcuate tail tapers from 

 in front of the anus to the convex-conoid spinneret. 

 Apparently, the caudal glands lie in the anterior 

 third of the tail. Though the renette has not been 

 clearly seen, it appears to lie two body-widths 

 behind the neck, to be elongated and twice as long 

 as the body is wide. The large, elevated, conspic- 

 uous vulva, occupying twenty-five to thirty annules 



sutait 



X7 



of the cuticle, leads to a medium-sized vagina. The female sexual organs are 

 double and symmetrically reflexed. The eggs are probably rather large, since 

 an ovum which has not yet entered the uterus, but appears to be mature, is 

 three times as long as the body is wide. Spherical, granular spermatozoa, 

 .9 7-5 . i*. _ -x" 90. one-half as wide as the 



-1:2"- ."T"i:- " body, were seen in the 



uterus. Spicula two-jointed, as shown in the illus- 

 tration. A mature specimen was seen in which the 

 spicula were lacking, suggesting that possibly they 

 are Tost at the time of copulation. See adjacent illustra- 

 tion. Accessory pieces, two in front of the spicula and 

 two behind, with an additional median one behind, 

 that is to say, five in all. The ventral, longitudinal opti- 

 cal section, about twenty-five annules in front of the 

 anus, is such that the subcuticle appears more or less as 

 if retrorsely serrate. This alteration in the annules is 



co-extensive with the oblique copulatory muscles, so that no doubt these struc- 

 tures must be regarded as indicating the presence of supplementary organs. 



Habitat: Marine mud, Ocean Beach, Florida, U. S. A. Fig. 118a, p. 339; 

 Figs. 1186 and c. 



X750 



