Larger male specimens reached lengths exceeding 400 meters and were close to 100 meters at die widest point. The smaller female measured approximately 100 by 20 meters. The mourn of the male worms has been measured at 80 meters in diameter. A set of 1,000 or more organic carbo-silica crystal teeth surrounded die mouth in a circular pattern. As described below, (he teeth were used for defense of territory, rather than for ingestion of nutrients. The adult worm was made up of 100 to 400 segments. Each segment possessed its own primitive nervous system. Respiration was accomplished through pores in the tough, silvery-gray outer skin. There was no circula- SHAI-HULUD tory system as such, since most of the nutrients were in the form of gases Each segment had a series of membrane "baffles" to absorb nutrients The "gut" was a hollow tube running the full length of the worm, servicing all of the segments. It did not function for the elimination of waste products nor for ingestion or digestion of food Each worm had one segment, near the anterior portion, which was a specialized reproductive segment. It is not known what stimulated the differentiation of this reproductive segment. THE LARVAL FORM Sandtrout (Fremen: Little Makers) were the larval form of the sandworm. They were large, unicellular organisms with a flexible peptidoglycan cell wall. Nutrients were absorbed from water and air through the cell wall Individual sandtrout were rarely over 20 cm long and 6 cm wide. Their shape tended to be pleiomor-phic, adapting to the environment. It was not uncommon to find many sandtrout attached to one another, walling off several liters of water from the surrounding environment. LIFE CYCLE. A female worm reached sex- 454 SHAI HULUD ual maturity after approximately 1,000 years of maturation Ibe male worm reached matun ty after approximately 1 100 years Mating began when a gravid female developed an egg sac in her reproductive segment At that time, she chose a nest site and built a nest by raising herself to half-leagth height and throwing herself down to "blast' out a nest This rhythmical thumping and grinding noise called a mate worm The Freraen made use of mis fact-one eould hardly term it a "matmg habit"-to call a worm with "mumpers," devices which imitated the nest building sounds of a female worm The male moved rapidly to the nest site and devoured the female Compounds in the outer skin of the female caused the male to become dormant for a period of several weeks daring which he remained buried m the nest site The highly resistant spice-fiber egg case m the female reproductive segment was retained in the male reproductive segment where fertilizatioa occurred by an unknown process After fertilization and possibly a period of development and cell division, the male deposited the spice fiber egg case into the sand nest presumably by egestion, and left the