ON THE NEMATODE GENUS PHYSALOPTERA. 999 



48. The Neiuatode Genus Physaloptera Kud.* By R. J. 

 Ortlepp, M.A., Research Assistant, Dept, of Helinin- 

 tholooy, Ejondon School of Tropical Medicine; Hon. 

 Parasitologist to the Society 1921-1922. 



[Received November 4, 1922 : Read November 21, 1922.] 

 (Text-figures 1-44.) 



Contents. Page 



Introduction 999 



Material and Acknowledgments 1002 



Methods of Study 1003 



General Characters of Fhysaloptera 1004 



Characters of Systematic Importance 1007 



Systematic Section 1011 



Parti... 1011 



Part II 1081 



Species Inquirendae 1100 



Species wrongly attributed to the genus 1101 



Bibliography 1 104 



Index of Species 1107 



Introduction. 



Rudolplii (1819), when establisliing the genus Phijscdoptera 

 expressed some doubt as to its validity. He gives the following 

 as its generic diagnosis: — '•Corpus teres elasticum utrinque 

 attentuatum. Os orbiculare. Cauda maris deflexa utrinque alata, 

 vesicam inferam sistens. Penis tuberculo emissus." Dajardin 

 (1845), after quoting Rudolphi's doubt, suppressed the genus and 

 transferred the species to the genus Spiroptera. Diesing (1851) 

 re-eskabhshed the genus, and defined it in such a way that it 

 could not be confused with any other genus of Nematodes. He 

 added two more species, one of which — Ph. inucronata — was 

 found to be an Ascarid by Molin. 



Leidy (1856) gave a short and incomplete description of four 

 more species, two of which — Ph. constricta and Ph. contorta — 

 can be definitely ruled out from the genus, as they probably 

 belong to the family Gnathostomidce as redefined by Baylis and 

 Lane (1920). 



Up to the iippearance of Molin's monograph on the genus in 

 1860, 18 species had been described as belonging to it, namely 

 9 by Rudolphi, 2 by Creplin, 4 by Leidy, 2 by Diesing, and 1 by 

 Hemprich and Ehrenberg. Of these, 5 are not members of tlie 

 genus and 1 is doubtful. 



* Communicated by Prof. E. T. Leipee, F.Z.S. 



67* 



