130 
The male gonophores appear to be those figured by Ellis in his 
description of this species. They are very much compressed, some- 
what obcordate bodies, with a short tubular aperture. 
The female gonophores are far less simple in form. They are 
oval for about the proximal half of their length, and then become tri- 
hedral, with the sides diverging as they pass upwards, while the whole 
is terminated by a three-sided pyramid. The sides of the pyramid 
are cut into two or three short teeth along their edges, and each of 
their basal angles is prolonged into a short spine. 
The trihedral portion, with its pyramidal summit, is formed of 
three leaflets, which merely touch one another by their edges, with- 
out adhering, so that they may be easily separated by the needle. 
They consist of the same chitinous material as that which invests 
the rest of the gonophore, formed originally, doubtless, upon the 
surface of an ectodermal lamina. 
The male gonophore is traversed by a blastostyle, which gives 
origin to one or more lateral sporosacs containing the spermatoge- 
nous tissue surrounding a large spadix from which no gastro-vascular 
coeca are developed. The spermatozoa are unusually large, and 
their body, instead of presenting the more common spherical or pyra- 
midal form, is in the shape of an elongated cylinder, with the caudal 
filament projecting from one end. 
On laying open the female gonophore, we find that the oval or 
proximal portion of it is occupied by a blastostyle, which gives 
origin to one or more sporosacs with well developed spadix, and 
entirely resembling the male sporosac, except in the nature of their 
contents, which are here ova instead of spermatozoa. 
The oval portion of the gonophore terminates upwards by closing 
round the distal extremity of the blastostyle, which it here encircles 
with a ring furnished with tooth-like processes. This oval portion 
constitutes the proper capsule of the gonophore, and is the only 
portion developed in the male. From the summit of the blas- 
tostyle, and apparently communicating with its cavity, several 
irregularly-branched coecal tubes are given off. They lie alto- 
gether external to the proper capsule, and embrace a delicate sac, 
within which are one or more ova in a more advanced stage of de- 
velopment than that presented by the ova which are still within 
the capsule. These extra-capsular ova are each enveloped in a 
special sac, very delicate and structureless, which is continued by a 
