I 



576 DR. W. A. CUNNINGTON ON THE 



BIniicliard (15) describing forms collected l)y Stulilmann. It is 

 in a measure surprising that these creatures should have escaped 

 attention, since they are neither minute nor inconspicuous. 

 During my expedition to the great lakes I was able to collect a 

 considerable number of specimens, the majority of which were 

 obtained in Tanganyika. Some examples, however, were found 

 in Victoria Nyanza (from which a representative had alreadv 

 been recorded by Blanchard), and also in Nyasa, where they 

 constitute a new record. With this opportunity for gaining a 

 fuller knowledge of these forms, it is the more to be regretted 

 that no report has yet been received from the expert to whom the 

 collection was submitted for examination. 



The l©ech which is already known from Lake Victoria wus 

 termed Hirudo hildehrandti by Blanchard (15, p. 5). It is not 

 confined to the lake, specimens having been collected also in 

 Mombasa. In the same paper a new genus and species belonging 

 to the family IIerpobdellid?e is described under the name of Salifa 

 perspicax. This form was collected by Stuhlmann in Kiriwia, 

 which is described as north-west of Edward Nyanza.. I have not 

 been able to identify this locality, but it appears doubtful whether 

 this species should be included in the fauna of this or any of the 

 lakes. 



It is hardly safe to foreshadow the results of a proper exa- 

 mination of the specimens collected by the Third Tanganyika, 

 Expedition. It may nevertheless be stated that they will in all 

 probability prove to belong to some five or six diflferent species, 

 of which the greater number come from Tanganyika, This is only 

 in accordance with what has already been observed in so many 

 animal groups. The leeches were found for the most part in 

 shallow water, under stones or on shells, but some were dredged 

 in about 10 fathoms. 



Nematoda. 



There is hardly any information available concerning the 

 Nematodes of the great lakes. In the extensive plankton 

 material collected by Fiilleborn in and around Nyasa, Daday 

 detected certain free-living forms, which he identified and de- 

 scribed. Reporting on Stuhlmann's collections, Collin records a 

 single specimen of a free-living Nematode (which he leaves 

 undetermined) from Victoria Nyanza, and also examples of a 

 well-known parasitic type — Ascaris spicidigera — obtained from a 

 pelican on Lake Edward (64, p. 10). 



During -my expedition to the three big lakes, I was able to 

 procure a considerable number of parasitic Nematodes from the 

 fish which passed through my hands. Whether such forms can 

 be legitimately regarded as part of the lake fauna may be ques- 

 tioned, but as they are associated in this case with genuine 

 inhabitants of the lakes, I am disposed to include them. Un- 

 fortunately these specimens have not been reported upon, so that 

 little can be added to this bare record of their existence. The 

 majority of them are from the body-cavity or gut of Tanganyik 



