NEW SPECIES OF EDWARDSIA FROM NEW GUINEA. 517 



part of the scapus. -There was no other structure at the oral end that 

 I could identifj as a capituluin ; but the tissues within the involuted oral 

 end were so much macerated that it was impossible to come to a definite 

 conclusion on the matter. 



Edwardsia vermiformis, n. sp. (Plate 51- fig. 3.) 



The animal vermiform, tapering towards the oral extremity, thickest in 

 the middle and tapering again towards the posterior extremity, where it 

 expands rather abruptly to form the large, ovoid, thin-walled physa. No 

 distinguishable capitulum. The two tapering ends of the scapus marked 

 with eight longitudinal shallow grooves corresponding to the insertions 

 of the macromesenteries, and furrowed at intervals by transverse wrinkles 

 so regularly disposed as to give an appearance of segmentation ; the thicker 

 middle portion of the scapus devoid of longitudinal furrows and transverse 

 wrinkles. The whole scapus covered by a thin, very minutely wrinkled, 

 yellowish-brown epidermis, easily rubbed off and showing a slaty-grey 

 mesogloea below. The physa thin-walled, saccular, compressed^ without 

 longitudinal and transverse grooves. Colour in spirit : scapus a dirty olive- 

 grey, physa a dull orange. 



Length, 36 mm. ; greatest diameter, 5 mm. 



Locality. Uvea, Loyalty Islands. 



The single specimen on which the above description is founded was in an 

 even worse state of preservation than E. rugosa. I could find no trace of 

 tentacles, oral disc, or actinopharynx in sections. The eight macro- 

 mesenteries were partially preserved, and I was able to identify the 

 muscle-banners, which were evidently large, with complicated much- 

 branched mesogloeal folds. The swollen condition of the middle third of 

 the body is due to the presence of the large muscle-banners. The physa 

 was flattened and surrounded by a deep fold, which was probably due 

 to compression in packing. When dilated, the phjsa must have been 

 of unusually large size in proportion to the rest of the animal. There are 

 no verrucse visible to the naked eye on the scapus ; but examination with a 

 lens and sections showed that many of these highly characteristic Edwardsian 

 structures are scattered over the areas between the longitudinal grooves of 

 the scapus. There is no doubt that this specimen is an Edivardsia, very 

 different from the other species in Dr. Willey's collection, and I cannot 

 refer it with certainty to any described species, so I describe it pro- 

 visionally as a new species. It is somewhat similar to Klunzinger^s (16) 

 figure of E. pudica, Klg., but the physa of the latter is much narrower and 

 tapers towards the posterior extremity. This difference may be due to the 

 different states of contraction of the animals from which his figure and mine 

 were drawn, and it is possible that the two species may eventually prove to 

 be identical. 



