Zool.— Vol. i.] MONTGOMERY— GORDIACEA. 337 



Owing to the great amount of individual variation afforded 

 by these specimens from California (123 3,55 ? ? >) a 

 description of them is necessary, and this description may 

 be compared with that of occidentalis and " gordioides" 

 given in my preceding contribution. 



Form. — The form of the male has already been described and figured, so 

 that it is only necessary to note that the anterior portion of the body is the 

 most slender, the head (fig. 10) pointed, and the body either cylindrical or 

 flattened (depending upon the state of development of the genital products). 

 The females resemble the males in general form, and in them also the ante- 

 rior portion (fig. 6) is the most slender, they are stouter than the males ; the 

 posterior end (figs. 9, 13) is enlarged and more or less knob-shaped as in all 

 females of this genus ; seen from the ventral surface (fig. 23) this posterior 

 end appears disc-shaped, with the cloacal aperture in its centre. 



Cuticle. — Thirty-two specimens were examined, cleared in cedar oil, and 

 transverse sections were made of twenty-four of them. These preparations, 

 with those which formed the basis of my previous descriptions, show how 

 variable the configuration of the cuticle is in this form, and present all inter- 

 mediate phases between the figs. 115-117, PI. XV, of C. occidentalis of my 

 previous description, and figs. 106, 107, PI. XIII, 1. c, of C. "gordioides" 

 and leave no doubt that the latter is only the young of the preceding. 



On surface view the areoles may be irregularly polygonal and well sepa- 

 rated from one another, or they may be elongate and confluent so as to pro- 

 duce transverse rows (figs. 7, 12-20). The areoles of the same individual 

 may be all of the same color, which appears to be usually the case, or groups 

 (of a few each) of larger areoles may be darker than the others (fig. iS). The 

 cuticle of one specimen had the appearance of that of Gordius pleskei Camer. , 

 owing to the incrustation of minute dirt particles between the areoles (fig. 12). 

 Small, refractive, circular or oval pits occur in varying number on the cuticle ; 

 they lie for the main part between areoles, sometimes on their surfaces ; their 

 most frequent mode of occurrence is between two areoles which together 

 present a dumb-bell shape ; their number varies greatly, and they are found 

 either singly, in pairs, or in threes (figs. 7, 15-20). 



On transverse section (figs. 8, n, 21, 22) the areoles are usually of the 

 same height but varying diameter in the same individual, but are never as 

 high as long, though in the males they are usually higher than in the females ; 

 they are either close together or well separated. In a few specimens, as in 

 the type first figured, lower areoles with irregularly serrated summits lie 

 between the higher ones, but such a relation was found in only three or four 

 cases. Between the areoles, occurring only at wide distances, are delicate 

 finger-shaped or club-shaped hyaline processes, of greater height than the 

 areoles. In a few specimens were noticed hyaline processes of a stout coni- 

 cal form, sunk into the summits of certain of the areoles (fig. 22). In some 

 males a cup-shaped depression occurs on the summits of a few of the areoles. 



The circular or oval pits seen on surface views are found on section (fig. 8) 

 to represent structures, the like of which has not yet been described for any 

 Gordiacean ; they were overlooked in my description of the type specimen, 



