296 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 19 



Classification 



I consider that the genus Margcana should be placed in the sub- 

 family Braehycoeliinae Looss and give for it the following diagnosis: 



Margeana no v. gen. 



Characters of Braehycoeliinae; digestive system with prepharynx, 

 short esophagus, and intestinal caeca extending into the posterior 

 fifth of the body but not reaching the posterior end; excretory system 

 of the "2-6-3" type with a club-shaped bladder; vitellaria extending 

 from in front of the pharynx to the posterior limits of testes; cirrus 

 sac large ; testes large, filling most of the width of the body ; only one 

 species recorded, from intestine of red-legged frog, liana aurora 

 (Baird and Girard), from California. 



Margcana califomicnsis shows close affinities to the genus Brachy- 

 coelium. Not only have I been able to make comparisons with the 

 descriptions of the European species of this genus, Brachycocliuni 

 salamandrae (Frolich) (= Distomv/m crassicoUe Rudolphi) (Liihe, 

 1909, p. 119) and (Odhner, 1911, pp. 91-94), but I have had oppor- 

 tunity for a first hand study both of living and preserved material of 

 specimens of the American species Brachycocliuni hospitale Stafford 

 from the intestine of Diemictylus viridescens from Douglas Lake, 

 Michigan. Margeana califorwiensis and Brachycocliuni hospitale are 

 alike in the size and shape of the body and in the position and relative 

 size of the ventral sucker. They agree in the position of the genital 

 organs which in both species lie in the anterior half of the body, the 

 posterior half being filled with the coils of the uterus, which both in 

 ascending and descending pass between the testes. The position and 

 relations of ducts of the ovary and testes also agree closely. The 

 cirrus sac in both species is at the side and partly in front of the 

 ventral sucker and contains a good sized seminal vesicle, a short 

 prostate region, and a protrusible cirrus. Both forms have a small 

 seminal receptacle and Laurer's canal, and the vitellaria have prac- 

 tically the same distribution anterior to the testes. In fact the resem- 

 blances between Brachyeoelium hospitale and Margcana califonvit nsis 

 are so fundamental that I would have no hesitation in including my 

 new species in the genus Brachyeoelium were it not for the striking 

 differences in the character of the digestive system. The species of 

 the genus Brachycocliuni have a moderately long esophagus and 

 intestinal caeca, not reaching beyond the ventral sucker, while Mar- 







