A. M. Taylor 269 



of the body. The ordinary female does not exceed '03 mm, in the 

 middle region. The body tapers gradually towards each end, and ends 

 posteriorly in a point, but the front end is truncated and terminates 

 in a slight expansion as shewn in PI. Ill, fig. 3. This expansion seems to 

 be due to thickened areas of the cuticle, probably specially developed 

 in connection with the protracted muscles of the spear. The whole 

 body is covered by a thick chitinous cuticle which is marked by well 

 defined but very narrow circular striae which are due to some slight 

 difEerence in the character of the substance of the cuticle and are not 

 due to raised rings. There are also longitudinal lines of a rather 

 coarse nature, but these are difficult to see and their nature was not 

 determined. 



The anterior ends of male and female are alike, but the posterior 

 ends differ considerably. The mouth is at the extreme anterior end, 

 the anus or cloaca is on the ventral surface a short distance in front 

 of the extreme posterior end. There is, therefore, a short tail-piece. 

 The reproduction duct is single in both male and female. In the male 

 it opens upon the ventral surface into the cloaca just in front of the 

 anus. The cloaca is bounded on its right and left sides by two folds of 

 cuticle, a character here very slightly developed but w^hich is a prominent 

 feature in some species of Tylenchus. In the female the genital duct 

 opens in the median line on the ventral surface some distance in front 

 of the cloaca, but posterior to the middle of the body (PI. Ill, fig. 2). 



A conspicuous feature of the male is the presence of spicules developed 

 in the cuticle of the cloaca and retracted ordinarily in a special pocket 

 of the cloaca, which are described below. The tail of the male is 

 shorter and blunter than that of the female and ends in a small papilla, 

 the so-called ventral sucker (PI. Ill, fig. 7). The tail part of the male is 

 always flexed ventrally, whilst in the female it is usually straight. 

 The female's tail is longer and more tapered, but ends in a very fine 

 truncation beset with papillae. 



Alimentary canal. The alimentary canal runs from the extreme 

 anterior end to within a short distance of the posterior end. The 

 mouth is situated in the centre of the blunt anterior end of the body. 

 Six grooves radiate from the mouth outwards, one dorsally, one 

 ventrally, and two on each side (PI. Ill, fig. 4). The mouth leads into the 

 pharynx, a narrow straight channel with thick walls which swell out 

 and form the bulb, characteristic of nematodes ; in the centre of this 

 a slight dilatation of the lumen occurs, in which the chitin is thickened, 

 which gives it a gizzard-like appearance; but more probably the organ 



