20 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



TAENIA BAIRDII, Krefft. 



(Plate iii.) 



In giving a description of this Cestode from the Black Duck 

 (Anas super ciliosa), K refit 46 mentioned that he had also found 

 it in some other ducks but did not specify their names. I have 

 found a few fragments of this species amongst some of his 

 material collected from the intestine of the Teal (Nettion 

 castaneum) which is therefore a newly recorded host for the 

 Entozoon under review. The type specimen consists of a dried 

 fragment which is of very little value. However, I have been 

 able to recognise a few fragments from collections of material 

 taken by Kreff't from both of the abovenamed hosts and can 

 therefore give some information regarding the parasite. No 

 scolices were found and as the specimens are badly preserved, 

 the descriptions cannot be otherwise than incomplete. 



Krefft's account is very poor, and moreover includes at least 

 three species, all of them belonging to the genus llymenolepis. 

 He himself admits (p. 224) that he found two varieties of ova. 

 The small forms mentioned by him on page 226 and figured on his 

 PI. iii., figs. 25, 26, 27, belong to a different species. In a foot- 

 note on page 227 be mentioned that he regarded a tapeworm 

 (Krefft's PL iii., figs. 24, 24a) found by him in a "Stilted Plover" 

 (probably referring to Himantopus leucocephalus) as belonging to 

 this species on account of the similarity of the ova. This latter 

 form is no doubt also a llymenolepis and may be identical with 

 llymenolepis, sp. already recorded by me 47 from this host. Jt 

 is certainly not identical with //. bairdii. If Krefft's figures of 

 the scolex (PI. iii., tigs. 1, 5, 8) refer to the same form as that- 

 examined by me, then the scolex appears to be well marked, 

 possessing large suckers and a well-developed retractile rostellum 

 bearing a few relatively large hooks. He mentioned that the 

 strobila rarely exceeded seven inches in length and that the 

 segments varied in shape. The variation in form is represented 

 in PI. iii., figs. 1, 2, 3, the first being taken from the anterior 

 portion of one of Krefft's fragments, the second from part of the 

 strobila a little further back and the third from segments which 

 have reached male sexual maturity. In some better preserved 



*« Krefft— Lor. cit., pp. '224-7. 



47 Johnston — Journ. Koy. Soc. N. S. Wales, xliv., 1910, p. 95. 



