210 FILARIOIDEA 



ii, 269; Baylis & Daubney, 1922, Mem. Ind. Mus., vii, 317; 

 Baylis, 1924, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., London, (9) xiii, 199. 



3. Dracunculus [pre-Linnean authors] Kniphof, 1759. 



Syn. Fe?ia Gallandat, 1773; V ermiculus DungVison, 1895. 



Body greatly elongated in female. Head with a cuticular 

 thickening or shield. Lateral fields broad. Mouth surrounded 

 by eight papillae. Oesophagus very short. Into its lumen 

 there open by narrow canals a very large dorsal and two small 

 subventral unicellular glands. Intestine rudimentary and anus 

 non-functional in adult. Male undescribed. Tail of female 

 curled ventrally, pointed at tip. Body almost completely 

 filled by the uterus, the two branches of which form a con- 

 tinuous tube. Ovaries short. Vulva apparently absent.* 

 Embryos said to escape through the mouth, by rupture of the 

 uterus, on contact with water. 



Hab. Adult in connective tissue of Man and other Mammals ; 

 larva in body-cavity of Copepods. 



Genotype : D. [Gordius] medinensis [pre-Lumean authors] 

 (L., 1758). 



Kniphof, 1759, De PedicuUs, Erfurt, 12; Bastian, 1864, 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., xxiv, 101 ; Leuckart, 1876, Diemensch- 

 lichen Parasiten, Leipzig, ii, 642 ; zur Strassen, 1907, Verh. 

 deutsch. zool. Ges., Leipzig, xvii, 110. 



Fam. 3. SPIRURIDAE Orley, 1885. 



Mouth with two lips. A buccal capsule usually present. 

 Oesophagus with a short anterior muscular portion and a long 

 and thicker posterior glandular portion. Spicules two, 

 usually unequal and dissimilar. Position of vulva variable, 

 but never very close to anterior end. Eggs thick-sheUed, 

 containing embryos when laid. Adults parasitic in Verte- 

 brates ; larvae, so far as knowai, in Arthropods. 



Subfam. 1. SPIRURINAE Railliet, 1915. 



Lips followed by a cuticular collar, which is prominent 

 dorsally and ventrally, and may form dorsal and ventral shields 

 overlapping the lips. Buccal capsule without spiral or annular 

 thickenings. Male typically with four pairs of preanal 

 papillae. An accessory piece usually present. 



* The statement sometimes made, that a vulva is present near the 

 mouth, is imintelligible in view of the opposed arrangement of the 

 genital organs. 



