The President's Address. By H. G. Plimmer. 



137 



so I have only carefully tabulated the hosts and have added the 

 general character or type of the parasite when it seemed necessary. 

 They can wait for their christening until later, until we know much 

 more about them. 



On the other hand we must remember that in parasites, such as 

 those found in bii'd-malaria, it is quite possible we may be dealing 

 with several closely allied varieties, since one often finds differences 

 which may be due either to a more or less congenial environment 

 or to a real difference in the organisms. But in the present con- 

 dition of our knowledge it is better, I think, not to attempt too 

 much. The over-scrutinizing of insufficient evidence does not make 

 things any clearer, and such questions can only be settled by 

 experiment. 



There is not much of fine structure in these embryo filariie, but 

 very characteristic is the heaping up of small nuclei in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the pointed end. The animals in which they were found 

 came from all parts of the world, the largest number from the 

 Americas, but from the list given it will be seen how wide-spread 

 the infection is. In seven of the birds, of four different species, 

 there was a double infection with two different kinds of filariae — 

 generally a long and thin one, and a short stouter one. 



The following Table gives the detailed list, with the geographical 

 distribution and general characters : — 



{When, in the tables which follow, the names are in italics, it indicates 

 that the parasite, or the host, or both, are new.) 



Embryo Filari^ found in the Blood op Mammals. 



Habitat 



Suricaie — Suricata suricatta S. Africa 



Black-handed Spider Monkey — Ateles geoff- 



royi C. America 



Black-headed Lemur — Lemur mungos . . Madagascar 

 Croioned Lemur — Lemur coronatus . . . . do. 



White-fronted Capuchin — Cebus albifrons Ecuador 



Golden Cat—Felis temmincki Sumatra 



"Bridled Wallaby— OnycJwgale frenata . . N. S. Wales 

 Rat-tailed Opossum — Didelphys nudicau- 



data S. America 



Collared Peccary — Tayassu tajuca . . . . do. 



3 Pinche's Marmosets — Leontocebtis ccdipus Colombia 



Lion Marmoset — Leontocebus rosalia . . Brazil 



Javan Chrevrotain — Tragulus javayticxis . . Java 



A7it-cater — Myrmecophaga tridactyla . . S. America 



Type 

 Long 



Long 



Long and slender 



Very long, striated 



Medium, thick 



Long 



Long 



Medium 



Long 



Long 



Long 



Long 



Medium 



* There was a very young foetus in the pouch of this animal in the body-cavity 

 of which a parent worm was found, precisely similar to the parent worms found 

 in the mother. There were no embryo filariae found in the blood of the foetus. 



