Arthur Everett Shipley

“ The Priapuloidea are dioecious, and their male and female organs, which are one with the excretory organs, consist of a pair of branching tufts, each of which opens to the exterior on one side of the anus. ”

“ They are cylindrical worm-like animals, with a median anterior mouth quite devoid of any armature or tentacles. The body is ringed, and often has circles of spines, which are continued into the slightly protrusible pharynx. ”

“ The alimentary canal is straight, the anus terminal, though in Priapulus one or two hollow ventral diverticula of the body-wall stretch out behind it. The nervous system, composed of a ring and a ventral cord, retains its Priapulus caudatus Lam. (Nat. size.) a, Mouth, surrounded by spines. primitive connexion with the ectoderm. There are no specialized sense-organs or vascular or respiratory systems. There is a wide body-cavity, but as this has no connexion with the renal or reproductive organs it cannot be regarded as a coelom, but probably is a blood-space or haemocoel. ”