OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



13 



which it is completely enveloped while it tunnels its way through 

 the muscles and viscera of its host. A very interesting and in- 

 structive history of this worm is given by Dr. Cobbold in the 

 September number of the Intellectual Observer for the year 1862. 

 The specimens now exhibited were adhering in tangled masses to 

 the integuments of the liver, while the substance of the liver 

 itself had been almost entirely destroyed by being tunnelled through 

 and through in all directions by hundred of these Helminths. 



No. 3 is the Distoma Contortum (Rudolphi). This trematode 

 was found in considerable number in the substance of the gills. 



No. 4 is probably a Gy&ticercus, and is no doubt the scolex form 

 of the taenia of some species of shark. One specimen only was 

 found adhering to the long intestine. 



No. 5 is an epizoon, found abundantly on the skin of the fish, 

 and is most probably identical with the Lernea mentioned by 

 Captain Grey in his " Travels in Australia," as having been taken 

 in quantity off the head of a Sunfish caught by him in Western 

 Australia ; it causes irritating sores about the nose of the fish. 



No. 6 is also a parasitic Crustacean, but the genus I have not 

 been able to make out. It was found in limited numbers upon 

 the gills of the fish. 



These are all the parasites that Mr. Brazier was able to detect, 

 but they are by no means all the ills that the unfortunate Ortha- 

 goriscus Mala is heir to, for there are five other Entozoa mentioned 

 by Rudolphi, as peculiar to this animal. I may add that no 

 instance is known of the capture of a large Sunfish in which the 

 viscera and muscles were not completely riddled by various 

 species of Helminths, and from this circumstance no doubt the 

 belief has arisen that it is only when in a dying state that the 

 adult animal leaves its natural home in the depths of the sea, and 

 approaches the shallow waters, where it at once becomes the prey 

 of man. 



A valuable microscope was presented to the Society by the 

 President. 



