26 DR. F. E. BEDDARD ON 



beyond the suckers. The very first section of the series, which 

 was nearly transverse, showed simply two suckers back to back 

 with very little tissue between them. The scolex, indeed, appears 

 to be very like that of Ichthyotcenia nattereri as figured by Schwarz. 

 JSTaturally, therefore, as in that species, the present is provided 

 with neither rostellum nor a fifth sucker. Nor is there the least 

 trace, that I can discover, of the presence of minute spines upon 

 the scolex, such as characterise the species of Ichthyotmnia from 

 Varanus. I gather from Schwarz that in other Ichthyotseniids 

 from Ophidia there is the same lack of minute spinelets upon 

 the rostellum. I may add that I cannot find these spines 

 lining the cavity of the suckers, a matter upon which I lay some 

 weight, since Johnston has particularly asserted their presence in 

 this situation in /. tidsit'elli. 



The actual neck of this worm — L e.,that portion of the strobila 

 immediately following the scolex — is short, the segmentation of the 

 body commencing early. The proportion between depth of the 

 segments and transverse diameter is more equal here than later, 

 where the body appears, on account of its great breadth, to be very 

 thin. Also the dorso-ventral diameter is not greater in the neck- 

 region than posteriorly. In transverse sections through this 

 neck-region, one important difierence is apparent between this 

 species and those which I have been able to examine among 

 the species peculiar to the genus Varanios. The parenchyma of 

 the body is uniform throughout, and appears to contain no 

 muscular fibres at all. It may be that there are a few which I 

 have missed on account of their tenuity ; but it is quite clear 

 that there is in the presei:it species nothing like the thick 

 encircling layer of longitudinal fibres which I have described 

 above in Ichthyotcenia nilotica and Ichthyotcenia sp. from the 

 Nilotic Monitor. This periphei-al layer of muscles, were it 

 present, could hardly, I should imagine, have been missed, so 

 conspicuous is it in the two species from Varanus. 



In the wider posterior part of the body the segmentation is 

 quite clear, though the segments, as is the case with the other 

 species of the genus, do not overlap. They get to be about twice 

 the length of their width. In transverse sections, through not 

 fully mature segments, the width in comparison to the depth is 

 greater than that which is figured by Schwarz for some species 

 of Ichthyotcenia from Serpents. In some quite mature segments 

 which I examined the difference from /. nattereri, etc., in this 

 respect appears to be less ; and in those segments the two ends 

 of the section were wider than the middle region and formed 

 an almost circular-projecting area, the whole section having thus 

 a dumbbell-form Avith a long cross-bar. The minute structure 

 of the body difiers in some respects from that of the Ichthyo- 

 tcenia considered in the present communication, but seems to 

 agree on the whole with that of species of Ichthyotcenia from 

 Ophidia. The cuticle is thick and homogeneous ; the layer 

 of longitudinal fibres beneath it is veiy distinct. The sub- 



