Cobb — Nematodes, mostly Australian and Fijian. 28 



the body. The conoid rectum is one and one-half times as long as the anal body- 

 diameter. The reflexed ovaries extend back nearly to the inconspicuous vulva. 

 The position of the ventral gland remains unknown, but the ventral pore, its outlet 

 is situated just behind the nerve-ring. Two lateral glandular organs occur opposite 

 the rectum, each emptying through a lateral pore near the middle of the thicker conoid 

 anterior part of the tail. Inside the oesophagus, too, a gland appears to exist and to 

 empty its secretion into the pharynx in the neighbourhood of the dorsal tooth. A 

 dorsal organ occurs on the head, at least of the male ; this I have figured. Its 

 function is a mystery to me ; I can only suggest that it is a special male organ of 

 some sort, my reasons being briefly these: — 1. I observed it only on the males; 

 • nevertheless as I have seen but few females it may have been present on their heads 

 and have escaped me. 2. Oerley has described a " lateral organ" as existing only on 

 the male of his m.acrodon. Is this not perhaps the same organ that I have observed ? 

 I think it more than probable. These reasons are not a sufficient basis for a pronounced 

 opinion, but they will serve to call particular attention to this organ in future. The 



33 



male formula is as follows, i-? ""s "-s 2^ — ri i^?™™- The tail is similar in form to that 

 of the female. Beside the full complement of nine pairs of finger-shaped papillae there 

 is a pair of low ventral papillae just in front of the anus. The nine pairs are arranged 

 as follows : 1, two closely approximated sub median pairs opposite the middle of the 

 distal half of the spicula ; 2, a sublateral pair a little farther forward than the low 

 ventral pre-anal pair mentioned above ; 3, a submedian pair just in front of the pores 

 forming the outlet of the lateral caudal glands, or in other words just behind the 

 middle of the conoid part of the tail ; 4, three closely approximated subventral pairs 

 just in front of where the tail diminishes rather suddenly and becomes setaceous, oi' 

 in other words near the end of the conoid part of the tail ; 5, a subdorsal pair some- 

 what behind the three pairs just described. The linear spicula taper gradually, but 

 not uniformly, to a slender point; the proximal parts are narrowed also. The accessory 

 pieces are half as long as the spicula and are arranged parallel to them. Only a small 

 portion of the testicle near the blind end is reflexed. The testicle has about the same 

 length as the neck of the worm and occupies a position half way between the cardiac 

 region and the anus. The vas deferens is of somewhat smaller diameter than the 

 testicle and is connected with it by a narrow passage. The ejaculatory duct is 

 apparently quite short. 



Hab. — Grass, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. 



li. D. striatus, Btitschli. ■ ^ i^^'^ '^^^ '']^' i-j^j^. ^he cuticle is traversed longitudi- 

 nally by about forty striae ; head rounded-truncate near the mouth, with apparently 

 four setse ; lips scarcely to be detected ; pharynx two-thirds as deep as the head is 

 wide, longitudinally striated anteriorly, containing two very small submedian teeth at 



