Dr. O'Bryen Bellingham on Irish Entuzoa. 171 



Capite nudo, 



20. Ascaris dentata. Intestine of bearded loach (Cobitis barbatula). 



Parte postica crassiore ; capite nudo. 



21. Ascaris brevicaudata"^ . Large intestine of frog (i2a«a^em/?orana). 



"CEsophagus and crop of cormorant 



{Phalacrocorax Carbd). 

 Crop of crested cormorant (JPhalacro- 



corax cristatus). 

 Crop of Mergus Merganser. 

 CEsophagus and crop of pomarine skua 



(Lestris pomarinus) . 



f Ascaris spiculigera \ 



22. < Carbonis 



L (Turton) 



the caecum ; the tubercles of the mouth are however more distinct. 

 The vagina is prominent, seated nearer the anterior than the poste- 

 rior extremity of the body ; the posterior extremity is subulate and 

 incurved in some specimens. In none of my specimens was I able 

 to distinguish the lateral membranes of the head. 



* The Ascaris brevicaudata is not unfrequent in the large intes- 

 tine, and in the small intestine near the large of the frog (Rana tern- 

 poraria). In the months of June and July I have kept this species 

 alive for four days in a vessel of water. When first placed in it they 

 moved about very briskly, and many of the females soon protruded 

 numerous young ; these were expelled singly from the vulva and im- 

 mediately began to move about ; they were white, very small, and 

 hardly visible to the naked eye ; hence the Asc. brevicaudata is vivi- 

 parous. 



The females of this species are about 3^ lines in length, the males 

 from 2 to 2^ lines ; the body of the male is nearly of the same dia- 

 meter throughout ; in the female it is slightly thicker posteriorly ; 

 they are short and thick in proportion to their length, the male being 

 slenderer than the female. In both sexes the posterior extremity 

 terminates in a short mucro ; in some of the males this is curved in- 

 wards, in others it is straight. The penis does not project in any of 

 the males, but a short tube does in several ; no lateral membrane is 

 visible on the head. 



This species appears to be perfectly distinct from the Ascaris acu- 

 minata which occurs in the small intestine of the same animal ; 1st, 

 in being viviparous ; 2nd, in not being equally attenuated at each 

 extremity, and in being short and thick in proportion to its length ; 

 the Ascaris acuminata is double the length and more slender, and the 

 mucro which terminates the body is long. 



t The Ascaris spiculigera is the Ascaris Carbonis of Turton and 

 Pennant, and is very common in the crop of the cormorant {Phala- 

 crocorax Carbo and cristatus) ; it sometimes occurs in immense num- 

 bers. It has probably been named spiculigera from the length of the 

 penis of the male, which is generally found projecting. On one oc- 

 casion I found this species firmly adherent by the anterior extremity 

 to the mucous membrane of the crop ; this was the only instance in 

 which I met with an Ascaris adherent ; they are almost always free 

 in the alimentary canal. 



