CHONDRACANTHIDjE. 
325 
some distance from these organs, about the middle of the 
head, is situated the mouth. 
Rathke and Nordmann describe a pair of mandibles 
attached to the mouth, and a pair of small organs, which, 
according to M. Edwards, is a second pair of foot-jaws. 
The mandibles are very small, and are beset along their 
entire length with very fine teeth ; and the foot-jaws are 
somewhat larger, and composed of a stout basal joint and 
a horny, curved hook. Immediately below these we see 
a third pair of foot- jaws, considerably larger than the pre- 
ceding, and consisting of two tolerably large joints, and a 
moveable, moderately large, and curved claw. 
The thorax is connected to the head by means of a sort of 
neck, which in some species is of considerable length, and 
occasionally gives origin to one or two pairs of processes, 
which project laterally. The thorax itself is of consider- 
able size, and varies much in form and appearance ; it 
gives origin to several pairs of cartilaginous-looking pro- 
cesses from its sides, and a pair of ovarian tubes of con- 
siderable length. Between these ovarian tubes is situated 
the abdomen, which is exceedingly small, indeed almost 
obsolete. 
Male. The males are extremely small, about half a line 
long, and do not in the slightest degree resemble the 
female. They are of a more or less pyriform shape, with 
a very large head, an articulated thorax, and possess very 
large foot-jaws. They are always found attached to the 
posterior extremity of the female, between the anus and 
the right sexual aperture. 
In general only one male is found upon each female, 
but in some species there are two. As I have mentioned 
above (p. 321), doubts have been thrown upon these little 
creatures being males. Burmeister, for instance, supposes 
they may be only unformed or youthful specimens. Rathke, 
however, agrees with Nordmann andKroyer, in consider- 
ing them to be really males. “ The circumstance/' he 
says, “ that those beings which we find in the sexual 
apertures of the female Lerneae, show always in the same 
