64 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 367. 



Carinaria, apparently new, taken in con- 

 siderable abundance off San Pedro, were 

 found to be headless, though still alive and 

 well, thus presenting a condition that has 

 been observed by a number of naturalists in 

 Firola. This decapitate state was so common, 

 and so uniform in character — i. e., as to 

 the size of the portion lost and the charac- 

 ter of the wound— that it can hardly be 

 supposed to have been due to mere acci- 

 dent. The meaning of this case is as diffi- 

 cult to understand as is that of the self- 

 amputation of the posterior third of Pro- 

 physaon which has been noted by several 

 observers, and which I have myself seen. 



Of the opisthobranch and nudibranch 

 mollusca, about twenty species were recog- 

 nized in the San Pedro district by Pro- 

 fessor Cockerell. Of these, five at least 

 are almost certainly new. 



Crustacea.— Oi the seventy or more 

 species of decapod Crustacea taken at San 

 Pedro during the summer (the San Diego 

 collections have not yet been worked over), 

 five, according to Dr. Holmes' preliminary 

 examinations, are probably new to science, 

 the presumably new forms all coming from 

 deep waters. Among them may be men- 

 tioned as of special interest a Pagurid in- 

 habiting the tube of the Annelid Pecti- 

 naria. 



A noteworthy extension of geographic 

 range in this group is that of three species 

 of Pandalus, viz., P. Dance St., P. puiescen- 

 tulus Dana, and P. franciscorum Kingsley. 

 None of these were before known to occur 

 south of San Francisco and piiiescentulus 

 was not known farther south than the coast 

 of Oregon. 



The beautiful Navanax ineremis Cooper, 

 which is not uncommon in San Pedro har- 

 bor, is the residence of an interesting 

 copepod which has the curious habit of 

 using the slime of its host's external sur- 

 face not merely for clinging so closely as to 

 make its removal quite difficult, but also as 



a medium in which to move about with 

 great freedom and rapidity. Professor 

 Cockerell, in particular, gave considerable 

 attention to this curious case of commen- 

 salism. 



The summer's work brought to light one 

 new Enteropneust, making thus three 

 species representing as many genera, from 

 the San Pedro district. PtycJiodera occi- 

 dentalis Ritter MS. and Dolichoglossus 

 pusillus Ritter MS. occur together in San 

 Pedro inner harbor, while the one now 

 added belonging, apparently, to the re- 

 stricted genus Balanoglossus, was taken by 

 the dredge in from seventeen to thirty 

 fathoms off Ne-w^port, California. 



The new species is related to Balanoglos- 

 sus canadensis. Unfortunately, we were 

 able to get only three specimens. 



It is my intention to include the descrip- 

 tion of this species in my forthcoming 

 monograph of the Enteropneusta of the 

 Pacific coast of North America, now nearly 

 ready for publication, and to appear in the 

 scientific results of the Harriman Alaska 

 Expedition. 



About thirty species of simple and com- 

 pound Ascidians were collected during the 

 summer, the larger proportion of them 

 being taken by the dredge only. At least 

 four of these have not been taken before on 

 the Pacific coast, and are almost certainly 

 new to science. Even the deepest dredging 

 failed to bring to light much of anything 

 in common between the Ascidian fauna of 

 this region and that of the Pacific coast 

 north of Puget Sound. At the present time 

 I identify two species, viz., Amaroucium 

 californicum and Distaplia occidentalis, 

 and possibly a third, Styela montereyensis, 

 as ranging from western Alaska to south- 

 ern California. 



The work of Dr. Bancroft and Mr. 

 Esterly on the heart-beat of Ciona, while 

 still incomplete, arrived at the follow defi- 

 nite conclusions : 



