420 



MALE RHABDITIS (RHABDITELLA) LEPTURA 



third times as long as the anal body diameter. The vulva is slightly de- 

 pressed, though its lips are slightly elevated. The ovaries extend two-thirds 

 the distance back to the vulva, and are only about one- 

 sixth as wide as the body of the female. The smooth, thin- 

 shelled, ellipsoidal eggs, about as long as the body is wide and 

 two-thirds as wide as long, have been seen in the uteri one at a // 

 time. Their yolk is made up of closely packed, faintly refrac- 

 tive, spherical granules, scattered among which are a few 

 exceedingly small granules less than one micron in diameter. 



*"?" ""La/ "^4! ".2"VS,3.iL >61mm There are two, equal, 

 separate spicula. The nema must be tipped a little in order 

 to bring the slightly developed obscure bursa into profile view. 

 The foremost papilla, or bursal rib, is somewhat variable in 

 position and is sometimes found nearly as far forward as the 

 proximal ends of the spicula. Fig. 2. 



The testis is reflexed at its free end for a distance equal to 

 about two body diameters. This portion of the testis is only 

 about one-fourth as wide as the body, though it is very slightly 

 swollen at its extremity. Behind the flexure for some little 

 distance the testis still remains narrow, only a little wider 

 than the reflexed portion lying alongside. Then, however, 

 it rather suddenly enlarges and soon becomes half as wide as 

 the body and so continues, enlarging slightly, however, for 

 three or four body widths. In this portion of the testis the 

 spermatocytes pass through their growth period; they appear 

 as if in two rows and in pairs side by side, and one gets the 

 impression that these pairs are twin cells. Their nuclei are 

 large, becoming at last half as wide as the elongated sperma- 

 tocytes themselves, i.e. one-fifth as wide as the nema About 

 halfway from the blind end of the testis to the anus the full 

 grown spermatocytes, here half as wide as the body and 

 about as long as wide, apparently break successively into 

 quartets, the resulting subspherical cells being a little more 

 than one-fourth as wide as the body. For a distance equal 

 to about two body diameters forward from the spicula the 

 sexual organ is narrower, about one-third as wide as the 

 body. Whether the cells of the quartet divide further remains 

 unknown. 



Examination of one of the members of a quartet indicated 

 the probable presence of about seven chromosomes. 



Habitat: Decaying fruit of luffa acutangula from Tela, 

 Honduras, October, 1926. Sent by Horace S. Dean. 



Diagnosis: Rhabditella subg. nov. Rhabdites having lips 

 and pharynx as shown in Fig. 1, the males of which have* 

 weakly developed costate bursa and long slender tails. 



Diagnosis: Rhabditis (Rhabditella) leptura n. sp. Rhab- 

 ditellas dimensioned as shown in the formulae; male with 

 two separate spicula, a simple inconspicuous gubernacu- 

 lum, and with nine bursal ribs arranged as shown in Fig. 

 2; phasmids present. 



'In 



p/i.w 



Urn 



X750 



