THE ANNALS 
AND 
MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
[FIFTH SERIES.] 
No. 47. NOVEMBER 1881. 
XXXII.—On Hair-worms in the Collection of the British 
Museum. By Dr. L. Orury. 
[Plate XVIIL.] 
THE determination of the various species of the Gordiide 
has been much facilitated by Villot’s excellent monograph *, 
in which all the species as yet known are described. About 
thirty-five were already distinguishable, without paying any 
attention to the number of varieties included by Diesing in 
his ‘Systema Helminthum,’ and which he himself allowed to 
drop in his “ Revision der Nematoden” +. But even among 
these thirty-five fairly distinguishable species, some are so 
madequately described that one might very easily regard 
them as synonyms; meanwhile, however, we must allow them 
to stand as distinct species until they shall have been re- 
examined. 
The collection of Gordiide in the British Museum is a very 
good one, as it comprises nearly half the known species, the 
majority of which are represented by both male and female 
specimens. Schneider’s f assertion that the males in Gordius 
preponderate over the females is a statement that I cannot 
corroborate; on the contrary, I find that the female specimens 
predominate, and only in Gordius subbifurcus does there 
* Archives de zool. expérim. t. ill. (Paris, 1874). 
+ Sitzungshb. d. k. Akad. d. Wissensch. Wien, 1861, Band xlii. no. 28. 
$ Monographie der Nematoden: Berlin, 1866. 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. viii. 32 
