Crossopliorus collaris, Ilemprich & Ehrenberg. 349 



opposite directions, one forward, the other backward. The 

 coils of the ovaries extend about as far as the middle of 

 the oesophagus anteriorly and the beginning of the last third 

 of the body posteriorly. 



The eggs are of an elegant oval shape, measuring about 

 150 u x 113 fi. They have a moderately thick smooth shell. 



The material described above formed part of a collection 

 of parasites made by Lieut. A. Loveridge during or after the 

 recent campaign in German East Africa. Locality, Dodoma. 



Note on the Systematic Position o/" Crossopliorus. 



Although Railliet and Henry (1912) included this genus 

 in the subfamily Heterocheilinpe, which was intended to 

 contain provisionally all Ascarids having oesophageal or 

 intestinal cseca, it does not seem to possess many features in 

 common with any of the other forms answering to this 

 description. In the possession of a "gizzard," with chitinous 

 armature, and of an accessory piece in addition to the two 

 spicules in the male, it appears to stand quite alone. It 

 should, in fact, probably be regarded as an extremely 

 specialized offshoot of the Ascarid stock (using the term in a 

 wide sense). The presence of two intestinal caeca does not, 

 as it seems to the writer, necessarily imply close relationship 

 with those forms in which one such appendage is present, 

 but may with equal, if not greater, probability be considered 

 in the light of an independently developed feature. If the 

 subfamily Ileteiocheilinad (or family Heterocheilidse) has any 

 claim to be regarded as a natural group, the inclusion in it of 

 such a form as this would merely tend to make it appear an 

 unnatural one. 



There is, as Hall (1916) points out, considerable doubt as 

 to the position of the second species, C. tentacu/atus, referred 

 to this genus by Hemprich and Ehrenberg. In the absence 

 of an adequate description of this form, it is at present 

 impossible to determine whether it belongs to the same or to 

 another genus. 



Eeferences. 



Hall, M. C. ]916. "Nematode Parasites of Mammals of the Orders 



Eodentia, Lagomorpha, and Hyracoidea." Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. 



1. pp. 1-258. 

 Hempeich, F. G., and Ehrenberg, C. G. 1828. " Symbols physicae 



seu icones etc." Pars Zoologica [unp.]. Berlin. 

 PiAilliet, A., and Henry, A. 1912. " Quelques Nematodes parasites 



des Reptiles." Bull. Soc. Path. Exot. v. 4, pp. 251-259. 

 Schneider, A. 1860. ' Monographic der Neniatoden.' Berlin. 



