7 6 THE LEECHES OF MINNESOTA 



Glossiphonia nepheloidea (Graf). 



(Plate I, fig. 2) 



Clepsine nepheloidea Graf (1899). 

 Glossiphonia elongata Castle (1900). 



Description — This species, which may he called the worm 

 leech, is readily distinguished from any other member of its family 

 belonging to this fauna by its slender, elongate, and sub-terete form. 

 Slightly smaller and much narrower than G. stagnalis its great 

 power of extension permits full grown individuals to exceed that 

 species in length. Both the head and caudal sucker are very small 

 and weak, and the axis of the latter nearly coincides with the 

 axis of the body. A single pair of widely separated eyes show their 

 faintly pigmented cups within the anterior part of somite IV. The 

 skin is smooth and lacks integumental papillae altogether ; the muchal 

 gland and plate are also lacking in the adult. 



For the most part the annuli are very distinct, regular, smoothly 

 rounded and simple, but the furrows of the head region are mostly 

 faint and usually require special preparation to make them visible. 

 Somites I and II are united into a single annulus or are separated 

 only by a faint furrow; III, IV, and V are biannulate, the first an- 

 nulus being the larger in each case; VI to XXIV, inclusive, are 

 triannulate, and XXV, XXVI and XXVII each uniannulate but 

 distinct. 



The relatively large mouth is located in somite III. In correla- 

 tion with the narrowness of the body the stomach is a nearly simple 

 straight tube bearing the last pair of reflexed caeca only, and even 

 these are shorter than in allied species. The salivary glands are 

 small and of the diffuse type. 



As is the condition in many of the smaller species of Glossi- 

 phonia the genital orifices are separated by only one annulus, the 

 male being in the furrow XII ai/a?, the female XII 0,2/0,3. There 

 are six pairs of testes occupying the customary positions, and the 

 vas deferens is folded into a long post-atrial loop, the terminal limb 

 of which is an enlarged sperm sac. The longitudinal musculature is 

 weak and diffuse. 



The body of the species, particularly in its anterior part, 

 is remarkable for its transparency and is almost totally devoid of 

 superficial pigment. The walls of the stomach and intestine exhibit 

 more or less of a yellow or pale orange color which is the prevailing 

 tint of the posterior region of the body. 



