MONTGOMERY: GORDIACEA. 43 
cuticle, but differ markedly in the form and armature of the posterior end of 
the male; and so it may be that the males of these ‚two specimens, when dis- 
covered, may also be found to differ from the males of violaceus. But it would 
be inadvisable to classify these two females as a new species until the males 
are known. 
The Californian form agrees very closely with the G. reticulatus of Villot 
(74), also from California, but the male of the latter is likewise unknown, so 
that reticulatus must still be regarded as a doubtful species. Villot (87) and 
Römer (’95, 96) hold the view that reticulatus may be synonymous with viola- 
ceus. The males of specimens from all these localities must: first be examined 
before we can decide whether the true violaceus really occurs in America, or 
whether a subspecies or different species, distinct also from platycephalus and 
densareolatus does not take its place. Hence these two doubtful female 
specimens from Cuba and California, may only preliminarily be placed under 
violaceus. 
PARAGORDIUS, n. gen. (cf. the Appendix). 
(Type of the genus: Gordius varius Leidy, *51, 56.) 
Generic Characters. The cloaca in the adult female is remarkably long 
(Fig. 86), nearly half an inch in length, and the caudal ganglion (Fig. 
79, N. Gl.) is in direct connection with the cloacal epithelium, and at no 
point with the epidermis. The male is characterized by the absence of a 
cloacal musculature (Fig. 78). The trilobation of the posterior end of the 
female (Vigs. 88-90) possibly also furnishes a true generic character. 
Thus Paragordius differs anatomically more widely from Gordius and Chor- 
dodes, than the last two do from each other; for in both of the last two the 
female cloaca is very short, usually a fraction of a millimeter, and the caudal 
ganglion is never in contact with the cloacal epithelium, and in these also 
the male always possesses a cloacal musculature (Fig. 18). I am inclined to 
suppose that the European Gordius tricuspidatus (Dufour) (G. gratianopolensis 
Dies.) should be placed in this new genus, since its female has also a triloba- 
tion of the posterior end. But unless the latter species be found to show also 
the anatomical generic characters given above, it must be kept separate from 
Paragordius, since it is doubtful whether the mere trilobation of the posterior 
end constitutes a good generic character, for we find in the female of G. tolo- 
sanus Duj. a tendency to bilobation of the posterior end of the body. I have 
had no opportunity to examine @. tricuspidatus, and find no description of the 
anatomical structures at issue, so that the generic position of this European 
species must still remain doubtful, though it certainly should not be placed 
under Chordodes, as Romer (96) has done, since the male has the typical bilo- 
bation of the posterior end shown by all true Gordiz. I quite agree with 
Janda (93) that the shallow ventral groove on the posterior end of the males 
of Chordodes is one of the important characters of the genus, since I have found 
this typical form of the posterior end in all male Chordodes examined by me, 
