J^ew South 'Wales. 1G3 



during copulatiou. If, however, the female were tightly held by the tissues 

 of the root ia which the copulation was to take place, it is easy to believe 

 that a bursa would be of little service, and it might therefore disappear in 

 the course of time because superfluous. 



Fortunately I am better prepared to discuss the result of the fertilization. 

 The ova in the uterus of the female, once they are fertilized, develop and 

 surround themselves with a shell. The consequent increase in the size of 

 the sexual organs causes them to fill a large proportion of the space contained 

 in the sac-like body. Even when the worm has reached the proportions 

 shown in II, Pig. l,the ovaries and uteri occupy fully half the available space 

 and the blind ends of the ovaries may often be seen projecting into the 

 narrower part of the body. The remainder of the worm is filled with 

 spherical clear spaces, the interstices among these spheres being filled up with 

 granules. When the female has reached the mature stage represented in 

 III, Fig. 1, the sexual apparatus occupies an even larger proportion of the body 

 cavity. 



The eggs have the form shown in Fig. 1, and have in many cases 

 begun segmentation before they arc deposited. The first two steps ia 

 the segmentation are shown in the figures. In accordance with the rule 

 obtaining in the group Nematoda, the first two segments arc unc(]ual, 

 though in the present case less unequal than usual. Of the first two 

 segments, one begins to divide faster than the other, and gives rise to the 

 exterior layer of a gastrula-like structure, while the other, dividing more 

 slowly, gives rise to the internal cells of the same gastrula-like structure. 

 The rapidity with which the segmentation goes on is in some degree 

 indicated by the following experiment. On first receiving the Pretty Gully 

 Scrub material, I placed some eggs in a moist chamber of i)eculiar construc- 

 tion. They were then in the first stages of segmentation. At the present 

 time, three weeks later, they have reached the gastrula stage. It will there- 

 fore be seen that, provided the experiment be not deceptive, the embryonic 

 life extends over a considerable period. The experiment needs, however, to 

 be c mtrolled by others before anything very positive can be said concerning 

 the period of incubation. It is well known that the rapidity of segmenta- 

 tion in certain Nematodes varies widely according to the external conditions. 



A word remains to be said with regard to the time and manner of deposit- 

 ing the eggs. Here again I must call attention to the incomplete state of 

 iny observations. So much is certain, that a relatively large vulva or sexual 

 opening exists at the posterior extremity of the mature female. This 

 appears as a flat conical projection, and is illustrated in the figures I and II, 

 Fig. 1. In the neighbourhood of the vulva the surrounding root-tissue is 

 usually of a yellow colour, and in this yellow tissue are uniformly to be 

 found eggs, many of which are in the first stages of segmentation. I have 

 also seen eggs well advanced which were still in the uterus. There seems, 

 therefore, to be no great uniformity in the state in which the eggs are laid. 

 But this important fact is established beyond doubt, namely, that the eggs 

 are deposited in the root-tissues. Doubtless also they remain there until 

 liatched. The larva) must then either remove to fresh parts of the same root 

 or, what is more probable, make their way into the soil in search of now 

 rootlets. I assert the greater probability of the latter course for the 

 following reasons : — The result of the attacks of the worms is abnormal 

 tissue, and this is known sooner or later to decay. Therefore it follows that 

 tissue already attacked is not an altogether suitable habitat. Moreover, old 

 tissues are more or less impenetrable to the larva>. They find their proper 

 entrance only in the tender rootlets. Again, the larva) are found iu 



