1 64 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



SOME INTERESTING NEMATODES IN THE 



FORTH AREA. 



By JAMES MURRAY. 



Bunonema richtersi, Jagerskidld. The genus, and this, the first 

 known species, were described by Jagerskiold exactly a year ago. 

 It was known to its discoverer, Dr. Richters of Frankfort, who 

 found it in material from Kerguelen, as long ago as 1901 ; in Lake 

 Survey collections it was found in 1903 in ground moss at Fort 

 Augustus. The distinctive feature of the genus is the waited back, 

 the warts in two rows. There are a number of tactile processes 

 round the mouth, and a pharynx of a familiar Nematode type. The 

 warts are thimble-shaped, and vary greatly in number, sometimes 

 extending the whole length of the body, sometimes only from the 

 head to the middle. In Scotch examples there are always two 

 single median warts at the posterior end of the rows, and usually, if 

 not always, a single wart at the front edge. Known from several 

 places in Scotland, but not yet placed on record, it was first un- 

 earthed in the Forth district by Mr. W. Evans, who sent me moss, in 

 which it was present, from a bog at Thornton, Fife, i6th December 

 1905. This is, as yet, the only locality for it in the district. 

 (See original description in " Zoologischen Anzeiger," xxviii. 557, 

 February 1905). 



Bunonema reticulatum, Richters. The second species, also dis- 

 covered by Prof. Richters, and described very recently (in "Vorhandl. 

 d. Deutsch. Zool. Gesellschaft," 1905, p. 46, Breslau), was discovered 

 in Forth a fortnight earlier than the other, among moss collected 

 by Mr. Evans in Hopetoun Woods, 2nd December 1905 near 

 Bridge of Allan, 23rd December, and at Thornton. The species is 

 distinguished by the great reduction of the warts, which are nearly 

 hidden in the skin, and by a beautifully regular hexagonal pattern 

 of pearly processes which connects the warts. In some Scotch 

 specimens there are as many as five longitudinal rows of these 

 hexagons, the largest median, the smallest on the sides, and the 

 warts often indistinguishable. We have not yet any Scotch records 

 for this species except Mr. Evans' Forth ones. 



Desmoscolex minutus, Claparede. The third worm to be mentioned 

 here we also owe to the industry of Mr. Evans, who got it on sea- 

 weed at Morrison's Haven, lyth November 1905. I do not know 

 whether there are any previous local records of it. As the animal 

 is marine it may well have occurred in the course of Dr. Scott's 

 extensive work among the smaller marine forms. 



It is an anomalous animal, which has puzzled systematists. 



