324 N E M N E M by Nelson in the " Victory," the southern under Collingwood in the " Royal Sovereign." The wind was light, and there was an ocean swell ; Nelson s ships slowly advanced on the waters ; and, as they approached it, the hostile fleet, the sun shining on the masses of sails, presented a grand and imposing appearance. Villeneuve, a skilful seaman though a timid leader, had arranged his squadrons ably to meet the attack : he had formed them into two parallel lines, the vessels of the second commanding the spaces between the vessels of the first line ; and they were thus marshalled in a compact array, each division giving support to the other, and offering a continuous front of fire to the enemy. Deafening cheers broke from the British armament as the celebrated signal flew from the flagship, " England expects every man to do his duty " ; and it is said that Villeneuve, as he heard the shouting, exclaimed to his officers that "all was lost." The southern column came into action towards noon ; and Collingwood first broke the hostile line, pouring a destructive broadside into the " Santa Anna," and then ranging alongside the "Fougeux." The "Royal Sovereign," however, had out-sailed her consorts, and he was surrounded by enemies for many minutes before a friendly ship could come to her aid ; and this circumstance not only proves how absolute had become the confidence of the British chiefs, but how the manoeuvre of piercing the line requires a better fleet to have a chance of success. By this time the northern column was engaged ; the " Victory," assailed by a tremendous fire, broke through the enemy soon after twelve, making immense havoc in Villeneuve s flagship, and exchanging broadsides with the " Redoubt able" and with the huge "Santissima Trinidad," by far the largest man-of-war afloat ; and here again some moments elapsed before the " Temeraire " gave her partial relief. The action had now become general ; and the British ships in the rear came up, reducing the great inferiority in the first attack. Six or seven ships of the enemy s first line made a stern and noble resist ance ; but the second line gradually fell to leeward ; the van, as at the Nile, scarcely fired a shot : and, divided, scattered, and overpowered at every point where the defence was maintained, the allied fleet ere long was a mass of fragments, disabled, helpless, and pursued by their conquerors. Nevertheless the victory, splendid as it was, was dearly bought by the loss of the life of the illustrious warrior who had prepared it. A musket ball from the " Redoubtable s " tops inflicted a mortal wound on Nelson about an hour after the battle began, and he died towards evening to the unspeakable grief of all who witnessed the sorrowful scene in the "Victory." He retained, however, his great faculties to the last ; he lived to hear that almost two-thirds of the enemy s fleet had been destroyed or captured ; and, though he passed away in the prime of manhood, it can hardly be said that his death was prema ture, for the foes of England had been swept from the ocean. We have indicated Nelson s undoubted errors ; and he was inferior to several of England s naval chiefs in political sagacity and calm forethought. But he was the greatest of her commanders at sea ; he was unrivalled, in an event ful age of war, for resource, daring, professional skill, and the art of winning the hearts of men ; and, on the whole, he was beyond comparison the first of the naval worthies of his country. His remains were conveyed to England and interred in St Paul s Cathedral on January 9, 1806. See The Dispatches and Letters of Nelson, 7 vols., London, 1844- 46; the Life by Clarke and M Arthur (1806), and that by Southey (1828); Alison, History of Europe; Thiers, French Revolution and History of the Consulate and the Umpire. (W. 0. M. ) ^NEMATOIDEA. The name Nematoidea (vfya, thread,
- 8os, form) was first introduced by Eudolphi, but the
group had been previously recognized as distinct by Zeder under the name of Ascarides. They are now by many systematists united with the Acanthocephali to form the order Nemathelminthes. The Nematoidea possess an elongated and thread-like form (see fig. 1), varying in length from a few lines up to several feet. The body is covered ex ternally by a chitinous cuticle which is a product of the subjacent epidermic layer; this cuticle is frequently pro longed into spines and papillae, which are especially developed at the anterior end of the body. The mouth opens at one extremity of the body and the anus at or near the other. Beneath the epidermis is a longitudinal layer of muscle-fibres which are separated into four distinct groups by the dorsal, ventral, and lateral areas ; these are occupied by a continuation of the epi dermic layer; in the lateral areas run two thin-walled tubes with clear con tents, which unite in the anterior part of the body and open by a pore situated on the ventral area. These vessels are considered to represent the seg- mental organs of other worms. The lateral areas are entirely absent in Gwdius. The body cavity is largely occupied by connective tissue, and neither here nor elsewhere are cilia found at any period of development. The alimentary tract consists of a straight tube running from the mouth to the anus without any convolutions ; it is separable into three divisions : (1) a muscular oesophagus, which is often provided with cuticular teeth ; (2) a cellular intestine ; and (3) a short terminal rectum surrounded by muscu lar fibres. A nervous system has been shown ,,
- . . FIG. 1. Oxyuns
to exist in many species, and consists of a pericesophageal ring giving off several nerves which run forwards and backwards along the lateral and median lines. Some of the free-living forms possess eye specks. The sexes are distinct (with the exception of a few forms that are hermaphrodite), and the male is always smaller than the female. The generative organs consist of one or two tubes, in the upper portion of which the ova or spermatozoa are de veloped, the lower portion serving as an oviduct or vas deferens ; the female generative organs open at the middle of the body, the male close to the posterior extremity into the terminal portion of the alimentary canal ; from this cloaca a diverticulum is given off in which are developed one to three chitinous spicules that subserve the function of copulation. The spermatozoa differ from those of other animals in having the form of cells which sometimes per form amoeboid movements. The development is similar to that of the ova, with which they appear to be homologous. Mode of Life and Metamorphoses. While the majority of the Nematodes are parasites, there are many that are never sK any period of their life parasitic. These free- living forms are found everywhere in salt and fresh water, in damp earth and moss, and among decaying sub stances ; they are always minute in size, and like many other lower forms of life, are capable of retaining their vitality for a long period even when dried, which accounts (after Caleb, Arch, de Zool. Exp.,1878). b, mouth; ce, oesophagus; bd, en largement of the oeso phagus, armed with chitinous teeth ; i, in testine ; s, opening of segmental tubes (placed by mistake on the dorsal instead of the ventral surface) ; te, testes ; cd, vas deferens; sp, cloaca ; pa, papillae.
