Volume VII FEBRUARY, 1921 No 4 



NOTES ON A CESTODE OCCURRING IN THE 

 HAEMOCOELE OF HOUSE-FLIES IN MESOPOTAMIA. 



By J. H. WOODGER, B.Sc. 



Assistant in Zoology, University College, London, 

 sometime Protozoologist in the Central Laboratory, A mora. 



(With 3 Text-figures.) 



1. Introduction. 



The parasite briefly described in the following notes was first observed 

 by me in the course of a series of dissections of house-flies undertaken 

 in conjunction with Capt. P. A. Buxton, R.A.M.C, in Amara, Mesopo- 

 tamia, with a view to discovering to what extent the house-fly was 

 responsible for the carriage of dysentery in that region. The results of 

 this dysentery work have been published by Capt. Buxton elsewhere. 



2. Mode of Occurrence in the Fly. 



It was noticed one day, on opening the abdomen of a fly, that a 

 number, about fifteen, of milky, globular bodies, apparently unconnected 

 with the organs of the insect, poured out into the saline in which the 

 dissection was being carried out. From the small amount of material 

 obtained it is not possible to say more than that the parasite occurred 

 free in the abdominal haemocoele. 



3. Localities in which Infected Flies were found. 



Flies were taken for this work from near British and Indian hospital 

 latrines; from Arab compounds in and near Amara; from a village 

 known as Deffas, about 2| miles above Amara town, on the right bank 

 of the Tigris; and from what may be described as the "dirty end" of 

 the Amara bazaar. 



As this parasite was not found in any of the flies from British or 

 Indian latrines these localities need not be considered further. They 

 were kept clean under the supervision of the sanitary sections of the 

 R.A.M.C. 



Ann. Biol, vn 23 



