Dr. L. Orley o?i Nematodes. 301 



species. Probably the larger size mentioned is tlie fullj- 

 developecL form, although by no means the most plentiful. 

 The bihamate is also peculiar, and so difhcult to find from its 

 fineness and scarcity that I do not place much dependence on 

 the form and size given of it ; hence consider that what I have 

 stated requires confirmation. Possibly in some parts of the 

 specimens which have not come under my observation the 

 flesh-sjricules may be larger, more marked, and more plenti- 

 ful ; but after a prolonged search I have not been able to find 

 tlicm. The skeletal spicule, as in most other species, varies 

 in the form of the head, being in one part simply acuate and 

 in another more or less inflated (fig. 17, a, h). The speci- 

 mens, according to the label, were obtained by Dr. Cunning- 

 ham, after whom the species is named, and fouud at the places 

 mentioned. They are all in the British Museum, and, besides 

 my running no. 441, bear the register nos. 68. 6.29.22 and 

 72.4. 19. 3 respectively. Mr. Stuart Ridley has alluded to 

 them (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 117, pi. x. fig. 5) for com- 

 parison with liis Esperia macjellanica^ the spiculation of which 

 is of the common type. 



Although Esperia Cunningliami is the only species in 

 which I have found the " inequianchorate " to present the 

 peculiar character above mentioned, there is another in which 

 the 6i7((aw«<e equally possesses one; and that is the serrated form 

 in Esperia serratohamata^ found among the Gulf-of-Manaar 

 specimens from Ceylon (' Annals,' 1880, vol. vi. p. 49, pi. v. 

 fig. 20, i). 



[To be continued.] 



XXX. — Report on the Nematodes in the Possession of the 

 British Museum, icith a Review of tlie Classification of 

 the Order. By Dr. L. Orley. 



[Plate X.] 



Since the year 1853, in which Baird's ' Catalogue of the 

 Species of Entozoa contained in the Collection of the British 

 Museum ' appeared, the collection has been enriched by the 

 addition of some interesting forms, the enumeration of which 

 ■will afford matter of interest to those acquainted with the 

 group. Our knowledge of the Nematodes has undergone such 

 changes during the last thirty years, that a fresh survey of 

 the collection was certainly desirable. Many species reputed 



