DACTYLITIS ACULEATUS. 441 



riably found, in the numerous microscopic examinations which I made of 

 the female worms, two oval granular bodies or glands. Immediately 

 below these oval bodies there are two slightly convoluted tubular pro- 

 cesses. It was a long time before I could make out the structure of 

 these processes ; but after repeated investigation I found that each termi- 

 nated at one end in a free extremity, of a bell shape and brownish red 

 colour, which was beautifully fimbriated. This free extremity moved 

 about in the interior of the animal in various directions with gi'eat free- 

 dom ; and the difficulty of making out the structure of these bodies was 

 chiefly owing to the diversity of shape and appearance which under these 

 circumstances they presented. They probably had some connection with 

 the alimentary canal, as they accompanied it in its frequent movements in 

 the longitudinal direction. From the other extremity of each of these 

 bodies there appeared to proceed a small convoluted tube, and the two, 

 after running together for a short distance along the digestive tube, joined 

 the oviducts ; but this junction was not very clearly seen. The oviducts 

 consisted of two small tubes, which were distinctly traced commencing at 

 the vulva, and then twining in a very tortuous manner around the ali- 

 mentary canal, about as far as half way between the anus and vulva. 



" I made many careful examinations of the smaller worms, but I could 

 distinguish neither penis nor any genital apparatus whatever ; though, in 

 some of the specimens, I observed, near the anterior extremity, dark- 

 coloured transverse lines, similar to those marked in the vicinity of the 

 vulva in the female. Can these be young worms, the sexual organs of 

 which have not yet been developed, or are they not animals of the male 

 sex ? There is certainly not sufficient evidence to warrant any positive 

 conclusion; but, inasmuch as in most of the nematoid worms there is the 

 same disparity in the sizes of the two sexes as in those of the worms in 

 this case, and, with the exception of the dark lines just alluded to, as the 

 smaller specimens exhibited no trace of the complicated structures re- 

 marked in the female, I have preferred considering them at present as 

 belonging to the opposite sex. 



" From the above description, those conversant with the structure of the 

 entozoa will readily recognise a true nematoid structure. These worms 

 differ, however, from all the known genera of this class, not only in 

 wanting the characters by which they are distinguished, but in possessing 

 several peculiarities in structure, namely, a well-marked annulated body, 

 an anal aperture of a labiated form, and a tegument armed throughout 

 with spines. Referring, therefore, this entozoon to the order Nematoidea 

 of Rudolphi, in which it would constitute a new genus, its character may 

 be thus described : 



" Genus Dactylitis. 1 



" Corpus teres elasticum annulatum et utrinqtte attenuatum, caput ob- 

 tusum os orblcidare, anus trilabiatus. 



" Dactylitis aciileatus. 



" Capite obtuso, toto corpore aculeorum serie multiplici armato, caudd 

 obtusd et annulatd. 



Hub. in Hominis vesica, urinaria. 





From SaKTvXioe, annulus. 



