390 AUSTRALIAN FREE-LIVING MARINE NEMATODES, 



two-thirds as wide; its lining is distinctly to be seen in optical 

 section. The thick-walled intestine, which is separated from the 

 oesophagus by a deep and distinct constriction, is two-thirds as 

 wide as the body and terminates in a rectum shorter than the 

 anal body-diameter. The ventral gland, situated close behind the 

 cardiac region, empties through a pore opposite the ventral part 

 of the oblique nerve-ring. The ampulla is large and ellipsoidal. 

 The lateral fields are one-third as wide as the body. 



The anterior half of the tail is con-\'ex-conoid from the depressed 

 anus; thence it continues cylindrical and one-fourth as wide as 

 at the anus, with occasional short hairs, to the barely expanded 

 terminus, which is armed with three hairs and gives exit to the 

 secretion of the caudal glands. The depressed vulva leads into a 

 vagina one-half as wide as the body. The uteri often contain 

 large pyriform spermatozoa two-fifths as long as the body is wide. 

 The eggs are one-half to two-thirds as wide as the body and three 

 times as long as they are wide. Each of the outstretched o^ aries 

 is about three times as long as the tesophagus. 



•3 6. 10-6 M 91- 



•9 2-2 2-4 2» 2- 2-7to3-Smm. ^^^e male tail is like that of the 

 female, except that the anus is slightly elevated. The two equal, 

 linear, acute, nearly uniformly arcuate spicula are somewhat 

 narrower in the proximal third, where they are composed of three 

 pieces of chitin, although the proximse are not cephalated; the 

 length of the spicula is twice as great as that of the anal body- 

 diameter. The accessory pieces are parallel to the distal fifth of 

 the spicula; thence they extend backward parallel to the lateral 

 plane of the body. There seem to be two testicles. The incon- 

 spicuous pre-anal row of sixteen equidistant ventral gland outlets 

 is as long as the tail. 



This species is very common in sea-sand near low-tide mark. 

 Port Jackson, New South Wales, Australia. 



Spira, Bastian. 



3 2-8 5-8 M 93-8 

 S 1-1 1-4 1-8 1-5 



very closely resembling S. parasitifera, Bast.; in fact it is not imj^os 



■3 2-8 5-8 M 93-8 ^, . . 



Spira similis, n.sp. -s i-i i-4 1-8 — vl ^"- "™- This is a species 



