VAN NAME: SIMPLE ASCIDIANS. 531 
whether this arrangement is carried out on the upper part of the folds 
where the vessels are crowded, is doubtful. 
Transverse vessels of sac numerous and of various sizes, the largest 
generally separated by 20 to 40 stigmata. The smaller ones occur 
at ^•arying intervals and are rather closely and irregularly distributed. 
Stomach elongated, tapering, not abruptly distinguished from either 
the esophagus or the intestine. It bears a number of lobed hepatic 
glands, those toward the pyloric end being the largest in the specimens 
studied. Loop formed by stomach and intestine almost U-shaped, 
the branches being nearly parallel. Margin of anus with many lobes. 
Gonads elongated, somewhat sinuous, with projecting masses or 
lobes along the sides. Ovary central, covered more or less completely 
by the very numerous small, mostly rounded or pyriform, testes. 
Position of gonads nearly longitudinal, the posterior end turned up 
toward the base of the atrial siphon. That of the left side lies between 
the branches of the loop formed by the alimentary tract. 
This is chiefly an Arctic species, known from Bering Sea, the Arctic 
American archipelago, Greenland and Labrador. Its range extends 
along the American Atlantic coast much farther south than in any 
other part of the world. In the northern part of the region covered 
by this paper it is common and is represented in the Peabody Museum 
collections by numerous specimens, from various localities from the 
Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the Grand Banks and George's Bank to 
off Nantucket, especially from the Banks of Newfoundland, Nova 
Scotia, and the Bay of Fundy. There are more specimens, probably, 
than its relative abundance would account for, since its large size, 
peculiar appearance, and the frequency with which its stem causes it 
to be caught and brought up by the hooks of fishermen cause it to be 
noticed and preserved, when more abundant but less conspicuous 
forms are overlooked or tlirown away. DeKay (1843) records what 
is presumably this species from New York Harbor. No other record 
from anywhere near New York seems to exist, but DeKay is quite 
positive in his statement of the locality of the specimen, and from his 
description of its colors, seems to have examined it while still in a fresh 
state. The most southern specimens that the writer has seen were 
some from near Chatham, Mass., at the southeastern angle of Cape 
Cod (Stations 981 and 982, 42, 43 fathoms, gravel), and a few (one 
of them of medium size) from Nantucket Shoals. 
This species prefers a rocky or other hard bottom and occurs to 
