ART. 1 Al\ CYLOSTOMA PLURIDENTATUM SCHWARTZ 3 



Alessandrini who described the inner ventral teeth as being very 

 small in comparison with the large outer teeth. So far as concerns 

 the relative size of the pair of inner teeth, the writer has not 

 been able to confirm Alessandrini's findings, as the inner pair of 

 teeth in the specimens examined was found to be of good size. How- 

 ever, Alessandrini's interpretation of the size of the inner teeth may 

 have been due to his study of imperfectly cleared specimens or to an 

 interpretation of the tips of the teeth as teeth with the remaining 

 broad portion regarded as a basal plate to which they were attached, 

 instead of regarding the entire structure as a tooth in each case as 

 the writer has regarded them. In specimens imperfectly cleared only 

 the tips of the inner teeth which point caudad are visible, since they 

 protrude beyond the margin of the outer teeth, the remaining portion 

 of these teeth, which lie in a more or less horizontal plane, being 

 covered by the outer teeth. When the buccal capsule is viewed 

 through the ventral surface, however, the inner teeth which are more 

 ventrally placed than the outer teeth, stand out quite distinctly in 

 well cleared specimens, and are seen to be discrete structures, and of 

 good size. The tips of the outer teeth are relatively large and con- 

 spicuous, and have the shape of a triangle. 



In certain specimens from Felis tigrina the tips of the outer teeth 

 were found to be truncated in a number of specimens (fig. 4), resem- 

 bling in this respect the corresponding teeth of Ancylosioina hrazili- 

 ense^ in which similar malformations of the outer teeth are by no 

 means uncommon. In A. 'pluridentatmn the abnormality in the outer 

 teeth is sometimes unilateral and sometimes bilateral. In some speci- 

 mens the tip of the tooth appears to be cut off cleanly whereas in 

 other specimens it presents the appearance of an uneven surface sug- 

 gestive of erosion. Abnormalities were also observed in the three 

 pairs of small dorsal teeth in specimens from Felis tigrina. The mid- 

 dle tooth on one or both sides is the one affected, and appears to be 

 eroded in certain specimens. In some specimens the tips of the teeth 

 are almost entirely absent, the characteristically pointed tooth being 

 replaced by a slightly concave or by a more or less irregularly flat- 

 tened cuticular elevation. Normally the dorsal teeth end in sharp 

 points. No abnormalities of the teeth were observed in specimens 

 from Felis eyra and from Felis species. 



The cephalic papillae are very conspicuous and are located anterior 

 to the nerve ring. Their position with respect to the middle of the 

 esophagus is by no means constant, being either slightly anterior or 

 posterior to the middle of the esophagus. The position of the excre- 

 tory pore is slightly posterior to the nerve ring. 



Male. — The males are from 7 to 8 mm. long by about 294;u, wide in 

 the middlo of the body. The maximum width of the body is imme- 

 diately in front of the bursa which has a diameter of from 302 to 



