274 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
6. Squalus acanthias, Spiny Dog-fish. 
August 20; viscera of over 100 examined. These were collected at Rockport, Mass., hy Prof. 
H. V. Neal, of Knox College, Galesburg, 111. They had been placed in formalin, where they had 
lain about one week before they were brought to Woods Hole. The condition of the material was 
fairly good, so that if there had been entozoa in the alimentary canal at the time it was put into the 
formalin they should have been in good enough state of preservation for identification at least. The 
tissues of the stomach and spiral valve, the only parts saved, were in fair condition. No evidence of 
decomposition could be detected, and yet, after a careful search, no entozoa were found, except a 
small, immature nematode in the stomach of one, and the head and about 3 mm. of the body of a 
cestode, probably Antliobothrium from a spiral valve, with two or three cysts their tissues degenerated, 
in the stomach wall. Most of the spiral valves had been opened before preserving. 
A few fish bones and scales and a. small amphipod ( Gammarus ) were found in the stomach and 
intestine. 
7. Raja ocellata, Big Skate. 
(1) August 10; one; stomach empty. This specimen had been put in the pool in April. It had 
been dead probably a day before it was examined. It was in poor condition, evidently the result of 
confinement. Only mucus found in stomach and intestine. One cyst in stomach wall filled with 
a cheesy, degenerate tissue. One nematode found in dish during the examination, probably from the 
intestine; an immature female, 21 mm. in length, living, though not very active; very transparent; 
length of oesophagus 2 mm.; cuticle thrown into fine transverse wrinkles; posterior end bluntly 
rounded with mucronate tip ; length of tail 0.11 mm. Under the layer of longitudinal muscles the 
colls forming the intestinal tract could be seen. Upon focusing carefully, an open, somewhat reticu- 
lated/structure appeared in this cellular layer. 
(2) August 11; another specimen taken at Menemsha Bight, Vineyard Sound, had no parasites. 
(3) August 16; one; stomach with a large squid ( Loligo ) and one or two annelids ; intestine with 
many annelkls only partly digested. 
One entozoau (Rlujnch obothrium imparispine) [Cestode Parasites of Fishes, p. 450] in intestine. 
The following measurements of the living specimen, in millimeters, are appended: Length GO; length 
of head and neck about 8, but very variable; average length of last six segments 1. 5; length of last 
segment 3; breadth of last segment 1. Bothria on flat sides of strobile, varying from long elliptical 
and parallel to axis of body to cup-shape with cavities directed forward, then standing at about right 
angles to the axis of the body, or even with free borders directed forward in advance of apex of head; 
free border of bothria emarginate; color of worm yellowish white; first segments begin very close 
behind the contractile bulbs, at first broader than long, soon becoming squarish and ultimately 
longer than broad; reproductive cloaca in a deep lateral notch irregularly alternate and situated 
rather nearer the posterior end of the segment. 
8. Raja erinacea, Common Skate. 
(1) July 20; one; copepods and hermit crab in stomach. One nematode found in stomach. 
(2) July 21; two; stomachs empty. One nematode in stomach of each. One Bcheneibotlirium 
variabile in spiral valve (Cestode Parasites of Fishes, p.440). 
(3) July 23; one; stomach empty. Two nematodes in stomach. 
(4) July 26; one; stomach contained crabs (Panopeus) and annelids {Nereis). No entozoa except 
a few cysts, not determinable, in stomach wall. 
(5) August 12; one; stomach and intestines with partly digested crabs (Panopeus)', female, 
with one egg containing an embryo. 
(6) August 16; two; stomachs with small shrimp (Crangon vulgaris). No entozoa. 
9. Tetronarce occidentalis, Torpedo. 
(1) July 25; three; stomach and intestine contained nothing but mucus (exceptionally tena- 
cious and of a brown color), one small fragment of a shell, and a part of a small fish vertebra. The 
digestion of the torpedo appears to be very powerful. The walls of both stomach and intestine are 
remarkably thick and heavy. The viscera, after removal from the body, were left lying in a pail for 
about 24 hours. When they were then examined several holes had been digested through the intes- 
