DORYMENIA ACUTA. 95 



The nervous system is difficult to trace and accordingly has been examined 

 in its broader features only which show it to be of the usual type. 



The single specimen examined is sexually mature and the reproductive 

 gland extends as far forward as the level of the salivary glands. While the eggs 

 are attached as usual to the median wall of the gonad the sperms develop in 

 lateral pouches. In the posterior end of the body these crypts are of large size, 

 extending in some cases far down the sides of the intestine, and they are connected 

 with the gonad by small pores (Plate 38, fig. 2). 



The coelomoducts arise as relatively small tubes from the posterior border 

 of the pericardium and extend forward to the region of the seminal receptacle 

 where as usual they unite with the shell gland. The lining epithelium is low, 

 the cells cubical and ciliated and without indications of being glandular. Each 

 seminal receptacle is a comparativelj' large club-shaped sac provided with several 

 small outpouchings especially on its distal extremity. In these small pouches 

 multitudes of spermatozoa are attached to the lining epithelium which is com- 

 posed of slender columnar cells. 



The shell gland is in the form of a thick set Y and as may be seen, Plate 38, 

 it contains a cavitj' of moderate size. The greater number of gland cells are 

 of one type, high columnar elements containing, large numbers of spherical 

 granules. In the neighborhood of the opening into the seminal receptacle these 

 are associated with a small number of cells containing, after treatment with 

 Delafield's haematoxylin, a homogeneous violet colored substance. In close 

 proximity to the opening into the cloacal chamber the dorsal wall of the gland 

 contains a considerable number of cells, which secrete a coal black substance 

 when treated with the above mentioned stain. All of these glandular elements 

 are in contact with slender supporting cells containing mesially placed spindle- 

 shaped nuclei. 



Dorymenia acuta, sp. nov. 



Eleven specimens of this species were dredged in the vicinity of the Santa 

 Barbara Islands, off southern California, at depths ranging from 302-638 fathoms. 

 The three largest specimens measure 35 mm. in length by 1.25 average diameter, 

 with one exception having a thickness of 2.25 mm. The two smallest indi- 

 viduals are 14 mm. in length by 1 mm. average diameter, and with one excep- 

 tion, a slightly spindle-shaped individual, all of the specimens are slender and of 

 about uniform diameter throughout (Plate 3, fig. 11). Their color varies from a 

 grayish white, where the brick-red color of the liver shines through the cuticle, 

 to light lemon-yellow. The head is rather sharply pointed, and but slightlj' 



