THE LUMINESCENCE OF A NEMERTEAN, EMPLECTONEMA KANDAI, KATO SAKYO KANDA (From the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, Hongo, Tokyo, Japan) Introduction A great many species in the five phyla, Plathelminthes, Nemertea, Trochelminthes, Nemathelminthes and Chaetognatha, are closely allied to one another. Among these species, no luminous form has been previously recognized. I found, however, a number of luminous nemerteans, when I visited the Marine Biological Station of the Tohoku Imperial University at Asamusi, Aomori, Japan in the summer of 1936. These nemerteans had coiled up on Chelyosoma, which were col-lected from the bottom of Aomori Bay between Natutomari and Aburame at a depth of about 35-40 meters, and were placed in the laboratory for study. They were identified by Koziro Kato (paper in preparation) as Emplectonema kandai sp. nov. It is an extraordinary fact that among so large a number of species of the five phyla, only one is found to be luminous. Emplectonema is a genus of the nemerteans which is widely distributed in America, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea, the White Sea and Japan. It may be expected, therefore, that more luminous species of the same genus, at least, will be observed somewhere in the future. I made some experiments on Emplectonema kandai during the three summers of 1936-38 at the Station mentioned above. The results are given in the present paper. I wish to express my sincere appreciation of the facilities afforded me there by Professors S. Hatai (1937) and S. Hozawa (1938), Directors of the Laboratory. I would also like to acknowledge my indebtedness to Messrs. N. Abe, K. Atoda and K. Kato, without whose aid this paper would not have been completed. Material As already stated, these luminous nemerteans coiled up on Chelyo-soma. It is necessary, therefore, to collect the latter, which are dredged (by three fishermen) from the bottom of Aomori Bay, about 1 A preliminary note in Japanese was published in the Rigakukai, 35 (1937): 5-11. 166
BioStor
