230 Guide to Belfast. 



NEMERTINEA. 



This group also used to form one of the old divisions of 

 the Vermes. It includes mostly marine worms, which are 

 often of considerable length, and which may be found under 

 stones between tide marks. Many resemble a coiled and 

 twisted mass of a slimy piece of string. A useful list of the 

 Irish Nemertinea^ has recently been published, but much 

 remains to l)e done in this and other groups of worms. 

 Ca?-inena anfiu/afa, Eunemei-tes g?-ad!is, Amphiporus lacti- 

 floreus, and Linens gesserensis were all taken by Thompson 

 in Belfast Lough ; while Dr. Jameson found Cephalothiix 

 bioculata at Ballycastle, County Antrim. Other species, such 

 as Tetrastemma meliDiocephalum and Linens longissimus were 

 dredged by Thompson in Strangford Lough. 



R. F. S. 



PLATYHELMIA. 



The animals formerly grouped under one general term 

 "Vermes" or Worms, are now broken up into a number of 

 sections, one of which, the Platyhelmia, includes what are 

 commonly known as " Flat Worms." Many of these — the 

 flukes and tapeworms for example — are internal parasites, 

 and some produce much-dreaded diseases in man and 

 animals. There are the three following divisions : 



Turbellaria. — The Turbellaria are mostly non-parasitic 

 flat worms living in salt and fresh water. Since the late 

 W. Thompson's researches into the marine fauna of Belfast 

 Lough and neighbouring sea coasts, no one has made any 

 special studies of the district as regards Platyhelmia ; and, 

 as it is often difiicult to identify the species he observed 

 from the descriptions given, only a meagre account of them 

 can be given. 



Leptoplana fre/nellaris is common in Belfast Lough, 

 and Einjlepta cornuta occurs among Laminarise, while 

 Prosthecerceus vittatus was once dredged by Messrs. Hyndman 

 and Thompson in Strangford Lough. On the shores of 



1 H. L. Jameson. — The Irish Nemertinea (with a list of those contained 

 in the Dublin Museum). Proc. R. I. Acad. (3rd s. ), vol. v, pp. 34-39, 1898. 



