174 Dr. O^Bryen Belliiigham on Irish Entozoa. 



Species dubia. 



34. Ascaris. Small intestine of plover (CAara^r/ws i7^a^^c^^/a). 



35. , Crop of shearwater (Procc//an« ^i^z^^rwrn). 



36. . Small intestine of sea-swallow (S^erwa /firwwc?o). 



37. *. Peritonaeum of loach (Co6e725 ftaria^M/a). 



38. . Peritonaeum of heron (^Ardea cinerea). 



39. . CEsophsLgns of Mergus Me7yanser. 



40. f . Stomach and intestine of skate (Raia Bads). 



41. . Intestine of lump-fish (^Cyclopterus Lumpus). 



42. . Small intestine of widgeon (^Mareca Penelope). 



son, who examined and figured it, says it resembled the Ascaris of 

 the cat, but may probably prove to be a distinct species. A full ac- 

 count of this species, with a figure of the head and anterior extre- 

 mity, is contained in the first vol. of the ' Dublin Medical Press.' 



* This species, of which I found several specimens in the perito- 

 naeum of the common loach {Cobitis barbatula), differs in many re- 

 spects from the Ascaris dentata which inhabits the intestine of the 

 same animal. It is equally attenuated at each extremity, while in 

 the other the anterior extremity is thicker than the posterior; the 

 head is winged, while that of the Asc. dentata is naked. They are 

 about three lines in length, very slender, and of a white colour ; they 

 lived in a vessel of fresh water for twenty-four hours. They are re- 

 markable in this respect, and differ from most species which I have 

 seen in the length of the lateral membranes of the head, which ex- 

 tend along the anterior third of the body, and are of the same width 

 throughout. The posterior extremity of the animal has a somewhat 

 triangular shape. 



f In the stomach and intestine of the skate {Raia Batis) I have 

 found, upon different occasions, specimens of an Ascaris which differ 

 somewhat from one another, and do not seem to have been pre- 

 viously observed. In all the posterior extremity is thicker than the 

 anterior, and the head is nalced ; they are about an inch or a little 

 more in length ; colour very white ; the tubercles of the mouth are 

 small, in some specimens slightly prominent, and appear to be sur- 

 rounded by a prominent margin, which is wanting in other speci- 

 mens ; the anus projects considerably in some ; at the junction of the 

 anterior with the posterior three-fourths of the body, a circular con- 

 traction of its diameter is observed (as in the Ascaris lumbricoides) 

 in the centre of the abdominal surface of which the vulva is situated, 

 in the form of a little papilla ; this appearance is not to be seen in 

 the specimens found at a different period. Both, however, have so 

 many characters in common that they can hardly be considered to 

 be distinct species. 



[To be continued.] 



