NEMATODE PARASITES OF BIRDS 277 



8 rows of elevated shields extend 2 mm. anterior to cloacal aperture. 

 Four pairs of preanal and 5 pairs of postanal papillae. 



Female 11 to 21 mm. long, straight. Tail conical, with 2 papillae 

 near its tip. The small inconspicuous vulva (fig. 342) is just an- 

 terior to the middle of the body (Seurat) or posterior (Railliet). 

 Eggs 38 to 42/a by 25/*, thick-shelled, and when oviposited contain an 

 embryo 225/* long with a sharp slender tail. 



Life history. — Unknown; probably involves intermediate stages 

 in other hosts, which hosts might be small vertebrates, judging from 

 the fact that the adult worms usually occur in birds of prey. 



Distribution. — Europe (Germany, France, Italy), Asia (Russian 

 Turkestan) and Africa (Algeria). Only reported once from 

 chicken. 



Fig. 342. — Synhimantts laticeps. Female genitalia. Aftek Seurat, 1920 

 SYNHIMANTUS ELLIPTICA (Molin, 1858) Skrjabin, 1924 



Synonyms. — Dispharagus ellipticus Molin, 1858; Acuaria elliptica 

 (Molin, 1858) Railliet, Henry, and Sisoff, 1912. 



Hosts. — Primary : Falco nisus, Accipiter nisus, Astur nisus, Falco 

 cineraceus, Circus cineraceus, Nisus communis; secondary: Unknown. 



Location. — Proventriculus. 



Morphology. — Synhlmantus (p. 272) : Mouth with 2 projecting 

 papilliform lateral lips. Body strongly striated transversely. Cor- 

 dons thick. 



Male 7 mm. long by 200/x, wide. Posterior extremity (fig. 343) 

 coiled twice in spiral and deeply excavated ventrally. Molin figures 

 6 pairs of caudal papillae, of which 4 pairs are postanal. Long 

 spicule with an elliptical dilation at its free end. 



Female 20 mm. long by 1 mm. wide, according to Molin, or 10 to 

 20 mm. long, according to Stossich. Body coiled spirally. Vulva 

 posterior to middle of body. Eggs 30 to 40^ by 1 ( .) to 27/x. 



Gendre (1921a) notes that according to Molin's (1861&) figure the 

 long spicule is twice as long as the short one; according to the present 

 writer's interpretation of Molin's figure, one can not be sure where 

 the short spicule ends, but apparently the long spicule is over four 

 times as long as the short one. According to Gendre, the presence 

 of 4 pairs of postanal papillae in this species and of 5 pairs in S. 

 laticeps is the only point of difference, and he doubts whether S. 



