p. MANSON ON MlCRO-FILARIiE. 131 



myself absolutely correspond. The instant I saw Manson's figure 

 of the '* ovum," I recognised its identity with the empty egg- 

 envelope found in the blood of the Australian. 



In the fii'st of the two letters forming the present communi- 

 cation, Dr. Manson describes new parasites from birds that are 

 common in China. As he has given them no names, I have called 

 one of these Filaria piece medice (also found in Gracupica) and 

 another Filaria corvi torquati. I may mention that I have already 

 applied the term Filaria Mansoni to another worm which infests 

 the eyes of domestic fowls in China. (" Parasites,^ p. 441). 



The subject of avian nematode parasites is already becoming 

 sufficiently complicated. Long ago Dr. Sonsino, now resident at 

 Tantah, communicated to me some account of his discovery of Micro- 

 filarise in the Egyptian crow, and the subject has since been much 

 extended by Lewis in regard to the Indian crow, which, if I recol- 

 lect rightly, is the same bird by another name (Corvus splendeiisj. 

 In fact nematoid hfematozoa have been found in a great variety of 

 birds, and not unnaturally those found in crows have been conjec- 

 tured to hold some genetic relation with the very common Filaria 

 attenuata which infests, indiscriminately, crows, rooks, nutcrackers, 

 magpies, and even also the ground woodpeckers {Colaptince) . Evi- 

 dently we are only on the threshold of this enquiry, and the eluci- 

 dation of the subject is beset with practically endless difficulties. 

 In reference to the specimens sent by Dr. Manson, I regret to say 

 that the bottle containing adult filariee from Corvus torquatus ar- 

 rived broken up into a hundred fragments, but the bottle on the 

 table, as the label states, shows a number of '^ Chinese magpies' 

 hearts, with parent filariae in the semilunar valves, both aortic and 

 pulmonary." The pen-and-ink illustrations sent by Dr. Manson 

 were accompanied by brief indications of their separate nature. 

 These I have carefully collected and arranged in such a manner as 

 to form special plates. I have also ventured to amplify the de- 

 scriptions in order to exi^lain the plates made up from the sketches. 

 The latter, though little more than outlines, have evidently been 

 executed with great care, and thus they will become especially 

 valuable to systematists and others desirous of studying the genesis 

 of avian filariae. 



In connection with Dr. Manson's previous paper, I may mention 

 that, as supplementing the ordinary and large circulation of our Trans- 

 actions, separate copies have been transmitted to savans resident in 



