286 



a glance at m)^ material killed and fixed in a dozen different ways. 

 Specimens show a tendency to cnrl or contract, especially in the 

 direction of the median longitudinal axis, and this curling and con- 

 traction varies greatly in amount and may be present or entirely absent 

 in specimens of all ages, whether dorsicoles or discicoles, large or 

 small, carried through the fluide together. In large specimens measur- 

 ing 4 mm in life, I find that this amount of inconstant folding or con- 

 traction may shorten the longitudinal axis (for cross-sections!) as much 

 as 2 mm in exceptional cases! Even when the dorsicoles are hardened 

 without being detached their free edges may show a variable" folding, 

 which makes the counting of sections of a limited number of specimens 

 like those in Beard's table, especially the counting of sections made 

 1 5 years ago, a very flimsy bolster for the assumption of a "comple- 

 mental male". In answer to Beard's remark that it was I who was 

 guilty of this method, I may be permitted to state, that my specimens 

 were at least compared and measured before they were embedded 

 and sectioned, that they were in a better state of preservation and far 

 more numerous than Beard's , and above all I did not base my views 

 on a few deceptive measurements but on the carefully studied sequence 

 of certain morphological peculiarities in the reproductive organs. 

 These organs, I had every occasion to know, are quite as variable in 

 Myzostoma as they are in other animals^. In my opinion Beard's 

 insistence on the importance of the overlapping in his table is about 

 as reasonable as the statement that every lad becomes sexually mature 

 when he is exactly 5 feet 41/2 inches high. 



In his latest paper Beard displays another peculiarity of method 

 which, emanating from one engaged in teaching comparative embryo- 

 logy (emphasis on "comparative") is no less remarkable than his 

 peculiar use of measurements in a morphological discussion. He 

 writes (p. 315): "I have never felt myself under the least obligation 

 to investigate M. cirriferum for I have never made or desired to make 

 any statements about it. If dorsicolous forms had occurred in this 

 species, it would not have been "quietly ignored" 9. And at p. 308 he 

 says: "I feel under no obligations to investigate this form, for as 

 Pro uh o shrewdly (sic!) observes, there exists no reason a priori for 

 supposing that what obtains for one species of the genus will hold for 

 all. Wheeler it may be observed, appears to overlook (sic!) one dif- 



8 Even Beard's table shows variation, for one of his discicoles 1,14 mm long 

 is mentioned as having smaller eggs than another discicole only 1,05 mm in length. 

 He even calls attention (p. 305) to the great variation in the color of M. glahrum. 



9 No, M. cirriferum is only useful in connection with such unwarrantable 

 statements as those on p. 301 and p. 322 bis. 



