COE: TERRESTRIAL NEMERTEAN OF BERMUDA. 537 
specimens preserved in formalin a very characteristic appearance. 
In this species the muscular contractions are evidently much 
stronger in the dorsal than in the ventral portion of the body, 
whereas in many nemerteans which coil ventrally when killed, 
the reverse condition apparently exists. It seems probable that 
the contraction of the powerful longitudinal muscles of the pro¬ 
boscis sheath is largely responsible for the dorsal coiling in Geone- 
mertes and also in the species of Amphiporus and Drepanophorus 
which exhibit the same peculiarity. 
Size .— Willemoes-Suhm describes the specimens which he obtained 
as about 35 mm. long and 2 mm. wide, while Verrill (:01-:02,p. 847) 
found individuals measuring 150 mm. in length when fully extended, 
but of very slender proportions. A hundred or more individuals 
which the writer examined in June and July, 1903, were only from 
15 to 35 mm. in length, although some of them had their bodies dis¬ 
tended with mature sexual products or with embryos in all stages of 
development. Verrill’s larger specimens were collected in the month 
of April and contained nearly mature ova. Although the species is 
normally hermaphroditic, individuals occur which contain only sper¬ 
matozoa, and these individuals are all of small size. The larger 
worms may contain both eggs and spermatozoa (which are commonly 
formed in separate gonads) as well as the developing embryos. 
As stated below, it seems probable that the majority of individuals 
become sexually mature in the later spring months, their embryos 
developing at the expense of the tissues of the parent which, after 
giving birth to its very large and very numerous progeny, again 
becomes a worm of much smaller size. This would perhaps account 
for the small size of the specimens found by Willemoes-Suhm in 
June and by the writer in midsummer. Individuals found near 
high-water mark are commonly much smaller than those living 
farther from the seashore. Diameter of body 0.5 to 3 mm. 
Color .— The species presents a great range of variation in color. 
The small specimens collected by Willemoes-Suhm were milk white, 
while the much larger ones taken by Verrill (:01-:02, p. 847) were 
dusky brown, grayish or smoky brown dorsally, with the ventral sur¬ 
face paler. The largest specimens collected in the summer of 1903 
were greenish brown, olive or smoky brown dorsally, with a slightly 
paler median dorsal band in the anterior portion of the body ; ven¬ 
tral surface very pale gray or whitish. In the anterior portion of the 
