20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1887. 



NOTICE OF SOME PARASITIC WORMS. ^ 



BY JOSEPH LEIDY, M. D. 

 Filaria megacantha. 



Body straight, nearly uniform cylindrical, slightly narrowed pos- 

 teriorly, obtuse at the ends, railk-white in color; head rounded; 

 mouth bounded by a j^air of prominent papillate lips. Female: 

 (Ij I caudal extremity straight, obtusely 



rounded, smooth, Adthout anal aperture. 

 Male: caudal extremity conical, obtuse, 

 bialate; aliie narrow, united around 

 the end of the tail, together forming a 

 shallow i^ouch, with a row on each side 

 of six rib-like papillie, of which four 

 are in advance and two behind the 

 genital aperture. A long, curved and 



Fig. I. Side view of caudal ex- n . i i i i 



tremity of the male, highly pai'tially exsertcd penal spiculum and 

 magnified. a ucarlv Straight short one. 



Eight females, 35 to 60 mm. long; cephalic extremity a short 

 distance back, 0"75 wide; body at middle, 0"625; near the tail 

 end the same width. Seven males, 20 to 25 mm. long; cephalic 

 extremity, 0'375 wide; body at middle, 0*5; near tail end, 0'25 

 wide. Large penal spiculum, 2"5 to 3 mm. long; shorter one, 

 0-18 to 0-22 mm.; caudal bursa, 0-28 long; width of alse, 0-036 

 mm. 



From the subcutaneous connective tissue of the neck and 

 mandible of the Short-eared Owl, Asio occipitrinus (St7'ix 

 hrachyotus). 



This appears to be a much smaller and different species from 

 the Filaria attenuata Rud., found in the same bird and others of 

 the order in Europe. Dujardin ^ gives as the size of the latter 

 250 to 308 mm. for the female, and 136 to 148 mm. for the male, 

 with 1 mm. for the longer penal spiculum. Schneider "^ gives for 

 F. attenuata, from Faleo peregrinus, 330 mm. for the female, and 

 115 mm. for the male, the caudal bursa of Avhich he represents 

 as circular. He remarks that the Filaria of Strix and of Cecus 

 glandarius, referred by Kudolphi to F. attenuata, is a different 

 species, but does not describe it, for want of perfect si)ecimens. 



1 Helminthes, 51. ^ Monog. Nemat., 89. 



