^QUORID^. 95 



Family ^QUORIDiE Esch. {rest Ag.) 



JEquoridcB EscH. (emend. Agass.). Syst. d. Acal., p. 108. 1829. 

 Mquoridce Agass. Cont. Nat. Hist. U. S., IV. p. 359. 1862. 



RHEGMATODES A. Agass. 



Rliegmatodes A. Agass.; in Agass. Cont. Nat. Hist. U. S., IV. p. 361. 1862. 



Umbrella flat, chymiferous tubes immerous, digestive cavity short, 

 with small hps scarcely fimbriated ; the chymiferous tubes extend 

 along the prolongation of the umbrella into the cavity of the bell ; 

 large tentacles, somewhat more numerous than the chymiferous tubes, 

 very contractUe. To this genus I suppose that Gosse's ^quorea forbes- 

 iana belongs ; it is closely allied to Stomobrachium Brandt {non Forbes), 

 and differs from it in not having numerous long marginal tentacles, in 

 the greater number of radiating tubes, and the numerous short lips at 

 the extremity of the digestive cavity. Like ^quorea and Zygodactyla, 

 it has marginal capsules, and the peculiar sjDur at the base of the large 

 tentacles. Two species of this genus have been noticed on our coast ; 

 the one in Florida, bv Professor Agassiz, and the other at Naushon. 



Rhegmatodes tenviis A. Agass. 



Rliegmatodes temiis A. Agass. ; in Agassiz's Cont. Nat. Hist. U. S., IV. p. 361. 1862. 



This is a large species ; specimens measuring between three and four 

 inches have frequently been found. The spherosome is thick (Fig. 136) 

 along the polar axis, bulgmg, in the shape of a rounded obtuse cone, 



Fig. 136. A profile view, natural size, of Rhegmatodes tenuis. 



