BY VERA IRWIN SMITH. 557 



Most of the descriptions of species are very meag're aud unsatisfactory. In 

 1845 Bellingham remarked tliat "as the species are all exceedingly small, and 

 resemble each other very closely (almost the only difference being a little greater 

 or less thickness of body), and as the male and female are not always found to- 

 gether, it is very difficult to determine the species accurately." Later hehuinth- 

 ologists seem to have experienced the same difficulty, and a good deal of confusion 

 still exists in regard to specific diagnosis. 



However, only one species of Capillaria has been recorded from pigeons, 

 namely, Capillaria columbae, and the worms found here have been identified as 

 belonging to this species. Bellingham did not give any name or description to 

 the Nematode which he found in the small intestine of C'olumba livia in Ireland, 

 but it was probably the same worm. Dujardin, who states that several specimens 

 had been sent to the Museum of Paris from the Museum, of Vienna, and were 

 described by him for the first time, supplies the description (1845) which has 

 been repeated, or closely followed, in nearly all subsequent records. In Vienna, 

 according to Dujardin, it was found nine times in 245 in the large intestine of 

 C'olumba domestica. Neumann records it as a frequent and abundant species in the 

 small intestine of this pigeon, and quotes Pauly and Zurn as stating that it often 

 determines an intense intestinal catarrh, which leads to anaemia, and consump- 

 tion. Neveu-Lemaire also refers to a "trichosomosis" of the pigeon caused by 

 its presence, which had been studied both by Tartakowski and Pauly and Zurn. 

 He says that, at an autopsy of an infected bird, the intestinal mucosa was found 

 to be greyish, tumefied, and covered witli red striae and petechiae. 



None of these symptoms were observed in the bird, from which tho present 

 specimens were obtained, though they were found in fair numliers throughout 

 the intestines. 



Capillaria colujibae Rudolphi. 



Triclwsoma coliimhne, Cat. Ent. Vind. Msc. — ISlil. Riidol|ihi, Synops.. p. 

 15.— 1845. Bellingham, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., xiv.. p. 477.— 1845, Calodiiim 

 tenue, Dujardin, Hist. Nat. de Helm., p. 28. — 1851, Trichosomum [Calodium) 

 tenuissimwm Diesing, Syst. Helm., ii. pp. 256, 257. — 1861, Calodium tenue, 

 Molin II. sottor. d. Acrofalli, Mem. Instit. Veneto, ix., p. 192. — 1803. Trich- 

 osomum lenuissimum., Eberth, Nemat. Untersuch., Leipzig, p. 56, tab. vi.. fig. 2. 

 — 1878, Linstow, Compend. d. Helm., p. 119.— 1883. Pauly and Zurn, Deutsche 

 Zeitschr. f. Thiermed., ix., p. 200.— 1886. Leidy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., p. 

 310.— 1890. Stossich, Boll. Soc. Adriat. Sc. Nat.. Trieste, xii., p. 12.— 1895, 

 Eailliet, Traite Zool. Med. et Agric, 2nd edit., pp. 485-486.-1898, Trichosoma 

 columbae. Stossich, Program, civ. Scuola reale super., Trieste. — 1899, Trichosoma 

 teriuissimum, Perroncito, Giorn. R. Soc. Acad, veterin. ital.. xlviii.. n. 38, p. 

 889. — 1901. Tartakowski, Arehiv. veter. Nauk. p. 1045. — 1905, Neumann-Mac- 

 queen, Parasites and Par. Diseases Dom. Anim., 2nd edit., p. 414. — 1906. Bar- 

 bagallo. Boll. Soc. ciilto. sc. med.-natur. Cagliari. ii.. n. 4, p. 143. — 1912, Parona, 

 L'Elmint. Italiana. ii.. p. 118. — 1912. TricJiosomum columbae, Neveu-Lemaire. 

 Parasit. Anim. Dom., Paris, pp. 764-765. — 1914. CapiUaria dujardin! , Travassos, 

 Brazil-Medico, xxviii.. p. 429. — 1915. Travassos. Rio de .Taneiro. Mem. Instit. 

 Oswaldo Craz, vii.. pp. 153. 160. 



Found in about equal numbers with Ceplialostrongylus columbae in the in- 

 testines of the same bird. The measurements correspond fairly closely with those 



