136 
Nematodirus filicollis Rud. 
tract of Ruminants, published in 1911, we find the following generic 
diagnosis: 
Metastrongylinae: Head not over 50/r in diameter; circumoral 
papillae inconspicuous. Cuticle of head may be slightly inflated 
and in cervical region striated transversely. Cervical papillae 
apparently absent. Bursa without unpaired dorsal median ray. 
Dorsal lobe of bursa reduced to two small short lobules, each 
supported by a dorsal ray. Yentro-ventral and la tero-ventral rays 
of each lateral lobe of bursa close together, parallel. Six supporting 
rays in each lateral lobe. Medio-lateral and postero-lateral rays 
close together, parallel. Externo-lateral ray distally diverges 
widely from the other lateral rays. Spicules more than 0-5 mm. 
in length, slender, tubular, filiform, united bv a membrane through¬ 
out their length, or only in their distal portion. Gubernaculum 
absent. Vulva of female behind the middle of the body. Ovi- 
jectors well developed. Eggs large, generally over 150p, long. 
In this monograph Ransom mentions three species of Nematodirus 
as occurring in Ruminants: N. filicollis Rud. in cattle, sheep, goats, 
prong-horned antelope, roe-deer and fallow-deer, N. spatliiger Railliet 
in the dromedary and N. digitatus Linstow in the zebu. To these must 
be added N. roscidus Brumpt (19H) from deer, N. mauritanicus Maupas 
and Seurat (1912) from the dromedary, and N. fordi Daniels (1908) 
from cattle as well as from man and the pig. Railliet and Henry in a 
recent paper (1912) have shown that N. digitatus and N. fordi differ in 
many respects from the other species and have divided the genus into 
two sub-genera Nematodirus and Mecistocirrus 1 , the latter to include 
these two species. The sub-genus Nemutodirus is defined as follows: 
Corps capillaire, longuement efhle dans sa parti e anterieure; 
extremite cephalique munie d’un leger renflement vesiculeux 
souvent strie en travers; tegument raye par 18 aretes longitudinales 
assez nettes; pas de papilles cervicales apparentes. Bourse 
caudate bilobee, a cotes d’egale importance; les posterieures sepa- 
rees, sans tronc commun; les anterieures dedoublees; la pointe 
des anterieures externes a egale distance des anterieures et des 
moyennes. Spicules greles, longs d’au moins 500p. (et au plus du 
hg-du corps). Queue de la femelle tronquee et mucronee; vulve 
vers le 1 ou le \ posterieur du corps; vagin tres court. Oeufs 
ellipsoides, grands, a coque plutot epaisse, segmentes au moment 
1 The differences between Nematodirus and Mecistocirrus have recently been emphasised 
by Neveu-Lemaire (1914) who suggests raising these to generic rank. 
