118 [Nov. 



Length 5 inches 7 lines, greatest breadth l-66th in.; breadth at mouth l-230th 

 in.; at posterior extremity l-80th in. 



Remarks. The description is taken from a single specimen preserved in alco- 

 hol, in the collection of the Academy, labelled " obtained from the mouth of a 

 child." 



Is it a young individual, or perhaps a male of the Filaria medinensis, or Guinea* 

 worm I The latter, as is well known, infests the human body, often growing to 

 an enormous length, several yards or more, in the intertropicsof Asia and Africa. 

 It is frequently brought in the body of negro slaves from Africa to America^ 

 where no entozoon of the kind has ever been noticed to be parasitic in man as an 

 indigenous production. From some late observations on the course of life of 

 entozoa, helminthologists have been led to suspect that most, and probably all en- 

 tozoa pass different stages of their existence in different animals. If such be the 

 fact, may the Filaria medinensis not owe its introduction into the human body> 

 from the custom which prevails in those countries, where the worm is found, of 

 using insect food ? Insects are well known to be infested with Filarise, probably 

 more than any other class of animals. In Egypt, Arabia, &c., the locust i^ 

 eaten; in Guinea, &c., the larger coleoptera; in the raw state, and in this con- 

 dition Filari-E may often be swallowed, and reach a higher developement of thei^ 

 existence in the human body. 



2. Filaria Canis cordis. Body white, opaque, linear, nearly uniform 

 throughout, posteriorly subulate, pointed ; mouth simple, round. 



Length 10 to lOi inches, greatest breadth 2-5th of a line, anteriorly l-5th of a 

 line; half an inch from posterior end, 1-lOth of a line. 



Remarks. The description is taken from two individuals preserved in alcohol, 

 in the collection of the Academy, presented by Dr. R. Coates, who obtained 

 them, according to the label upon the bottle, from the parietes of the heart of a 

 dog. 



3. Filaria Boa constrictoris. 



9 . Body white, cylindrical ; integument translucent, longitudinally striated ; 

 mouth simple, round ; oesophagus cylindrical, opaque white ; intestine opa- 

 lescent, cylindrical, tortuous, corrugated, wider than the oesophagus ; anus 

 terminal, round ; generative aperture close to the mouth ; ovaries two, very long 

 and very tortuous. 



Remarks. The description is taken from two specimens ; one 10 inches long, 

 by 4-5ths of a line wide, the other 6i in. longby 3-5ths of a line wide. In the former 

 the cESophagus is 9 lines long and l-3d of a line wide, the intestine 13 in. long 

 and 3-5ths of a line wide. 



Habitation. Found in the areolar tissue, in an irregular or tortuous position, 

 between the muscles of the ribs and the integument of a Boa constrictor. 



Note. In the same Boa constrictor, which was dissected by my friend Dr. 

 Hallowell and myself, we found in the right lung 6 females, 4 males, and a very 

 young individual of Pentastomum proboscideum, and in the ureters of the kidnies 

 26 individuals of Distomum horridum. 



ELECTION. 



Mr. Richard P. Remington, of Philadelphia, was elected a Member 

 of the Academy. 



