ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 85 



When the galls on the roots of some plant, which has tender 

 tissues like the roots of the tomato, are bacllv cracked and in the 

 incipient stages of decay, if one is broken there will usually he 

 seen whitish or dull yellowish irregularly oval bodies, from one- 

 fourth to one-half of a millimeter (one-hundredth to one-fiftieth 

 of an inch) in diameter, that are easily differentiated with the 

 unaided eye from the discolored and broken surrounding tissue. 

 Usually the unaided eye can detect also the head end projecting 

 as a minute point on one side, giving to the object tlie appearance 

 of a minute "gourd," or "crooked- neck squash,^' or a minute 

 inflated bladder. With the ai<l of a small hand-glass at least 

 this peculiarity of form can be seen. These are the gravid female 

 cvsts. 



Placing some of these cysts so that they can be seen under 

 the microscope and magnifying them about one hundred times 

 they will appear something like Figs. 34 and 35, Plate VI; or 

 27, Plate IV. The resendjlance now to a small "ofourd" is 

 easily seen. The head is at the small end. In the mouth-hole 

 can be seen a short slender cylindrical spear, broadened at the 

 base, which ends in three short lobes. This spear is hollow, the 

 anterior end lies in the mouth opening at the middle point of 

 the head end of the animal. It is capable of extension at the 

 will of the animal and is mov^ed by pairs of muscles directly 

 attached to it; Fig. 34, a, Plate VI. The spear of the male 

 nearly agrees in form. This is represented more highly magni- 

 fied in Plate IV, Fig. 21;^, c, and Fig. 25, a. In this latter figure 

 only two of the lobes at the base of the spear are represented. 

 The mouth opening is cylindrical and behind broadens into the 

 mouth- hole. 



In the males the anterior end of the exsertile spear is sup- 

 ported by six lamellae, the ends of which form the anterior end 

 of the head and fit around the spear. A front view of the 

 arrangement of the lamella presents a radial, stellate figure, 

 which is shown in Fig. 24, Plate IV, drawn also from the male. 

 The oesophagus begins at the base of the exsertile spear. The 

 anterior part is a long, slender, tortuous channel which looks like 

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