No. 1.] MISCELLANEOUS. 63 



have been obtained. One of these was given to McGill Col- 

 lege, some time since, by Dr. Spencer, of Hamilton, Ont., who 

 has proposed the name Conularla magnijica. The larger of 

 these two specimens measures nine inches in length, and at aper- 

 ture about seven inches in width, gradually tapering to a rounded 

 apex about an inch broad. The shell is flattened, but shows one 

 of the quadrangular pyramidal sides, which is entire, and marked 

 by a medial depression throughout the length ; on either side por- 

 tions of two other sides are shown. The entire side shows a 

 width, at greatest end, of four and three-fourths inches, gradually 

 tapering to a rounded axis, where the converging edges meet at 

 an angle of about 30 degiees. The surface is ornamented with 

 numerous fine transverse costa3 (about 50 in one-tenth of an inch 

 towards the axis, while there are 90 in the same space towards 

 the other end). The furrows between costae are shallow. Nu- 

 merous fine longitudinal furrows cross the costae, leaving a 

 papillose appearance. A complete description is promised shortly. 



Development of Filaria sanguinis hominis, and the 

 Mosquito considered as a Nurse. — Microscopists have dis- 

 covered in human blood and in the blood of dogs, swarms of 

 thread-like worms : these are the Fllarice. If they could grow 

 and breed in the body in which they first appear, that body 

 would soon die. " If, for example, the brood of embryo Filarim 

 at any one time free in the blood of a dog moderately well 

 charged with them, were to begin growing before they had each 

 attained a hundredth part of the size of the mature Filaria, their 

 aggregate volume would occupy a bulk many times greater than 

 the dog itself. I have calculated," says Mr. Manson, in a paper 

 to the Linnean Society, " that in the blood of certain dogs and 

 men there exist at any given moment more than two millions of 

 embryos." Obviously this minute creature is a formidable para- 

 site. Were it not that large numbers disintegrate and perish, or 

 are voided with the secretions, having even been found in the 

 tears, the natural function of the blood would be impossible. 



Nature requires that for further development the Filaria, as 

 well as other parasites, should enter some other body. Knowing 

 that mosquitoes suck human blood, Mr. Manson made arrange- 

 ments by which he captured a number of the insects which had 

 gorged themselves on the blood of a filarious Chinaman who had 

 been ' persuaded ' to sleep in a mosquito chamber. On examiniug 



