500 
HUBERT LYMAN CLARK 
specimens often contain many score. One Bermudan specimen, 
less than 50 mm. long (after preservation), contained no less 
than 522 young, three times as many as I ever found in a 
Synaptula. As no larvae over 3 mm. long were found, and 
none with more than eight tentacles, it is very possible that 
the young are born in the eight-tentacled stage, which would be 
much earlier than birth occurs in Synaptula. Further study of 
living material is necessary to settle some of these interesting 
points. 
The mature eggs of Chiridota were not seen, nor were any of 
the segmentation stages observed; but to judge from the youngest 
embryos found, the eggs, blastulae and gastrulae, must be very 
similar in size and appearance to those of Synaptula hydriformis. 
A few specimens of the earliest developmental stage which has 
been observed were found in a small adult at Port Antonio in 
1897 and one of them is shown in fig. 1. It is a uniformly ciliated 
embryo, within which the hydro-enterocoel has separated from 
the primitive gut and already shows the constriction by which 
the hydrocoel is to be formed. This embryo corresponds in all 
essentials with the similar stage in Synaptula. 
In the next stage observed, which was also found in a Port 
Antonio Chiridota, the body is a little more elongated and there 
are indications of bands of cilia longer and more vigorous than 
those which still cover the embryo. The hydrocoel is well-formed 
and is connected with the outside by the pore-canal. The entero- 
coel has already divided and the two parts lie, one on each side of 
the primitive gut. There is no indication of a mouth. This em- 
bryo corresponds closely in all the details of its inner anatomy to 
the similar stage of Synaptula but is noticeably different exter- 
nally in the absence of a mouth and in the presence of ciliated 
bands. With the very small amount of material available, I have 
not been able to determine positively, the arrangement of these 
bands, but they are very similar to those figured by Semon ('88) 
- for the corresponding auricularia larva of Labidoplax digitata. 
The next oldest larva of Chiridota was found in one of the Ber- 
mudan adults and was not seen alive. It is shown in fig 2. The 
ciliated bands are quite prominent, especially at the larger ante- 
