DE, T. S. COBBOLD ON THE PAEASITES OF ELEPHANTS. 231 



accurate. That marked by him 2 a (woodcut P. Z. S.) is perplexing. The head is not 

 only altogether out of all proportion, but the slight cutaneous folds, which form mere 

 sculpturings or elevated lines, have in his figure all the appearance of large auriculate 

 lappets (see Plate XXIII. fig. 3). As already explained, lattice-like markings have not 

 been seen by me in this worm. Dr. Baird's life-size representations correctly show that 

 the head and neck are finely drawn out to a blunt point ; but the enlarged figure of the 

 head above referred to conveys the contrary impression. Although not expressly so stated, 

 his figures imply that the heads of the two sexes closely resemble each other in respect 

 of shape, if not in size. This is usually the case in Nematodes. Unfortunately I do not 

 possess a female Strongylus clathratus, and have therefore been guided in my inferences 

 from the characters presented in the head of the male worm. It follows from this that 

 what has here been said respecting the form of the tail of the female rests entirely on 

 Dr. Baird's authority ; and here also I may remark that his enlarged view of the tail of 

 the female, which I have no doubt is correct, presents no trace of the remarkable latticed 

 structure that forms so striking a feature in his enlarged representation of the head and 

 neck of the female. In the male Sclerostoma sipuncirfiforme this network occurs both 

 near the head and tail, and throughout the length of the body. It occurs in the female 

 iikewise ; but I have not shown it in my less highly magnified illustrations of the tail of 

 that species. 



In reference to the habitat of this worm, Dr. Baird states that his specimens were 

 obtained by Dr. Murie from the stomach of a young female African Elephant {Loxodonta 

 qfricana). These Dr. Murie sent to the British Museum. The Elephant died in London 

 in October 1SG7 ; and Dr. Baird concludes his account of the worm by saying, " I am 

 not aware of any Entozoa having been previously described as inhabiting the body of 

 this species of Elephant." Dr. Baird's conjecture was perfectly correct ; and although 

 I have to record the occurrence of a dipterous larva in the African Elephant, yet even 

 up to the present time no other true helminth than that discovered by Dr. Murie has 

 yet been described from this animal. My own specimens of Strongylus clathratus were 

 obtained from the Indian Elephant (Elephas indicus), and were, I believe, all removed 

 from the small intestines. In Murie's find " the specimens were rather numerous, and, 

 with only one exception, all were females." It is stated that the male worm was white, 

 whilst the others were of a " dark brownish red colour, the contrast between the two 

 sexes being for a long time distinctly visible." As Baird says, on comparing this 

 parasite with the previous species, the head of Strongylus clathratus " is much smaller, 

 both in male and female, and the caudal bursa differs in structure from that of 

 Sclerostoma sipunculiforme." As supplementing the diagnosis, he adds the following par- 

 ticulars : — " The head is distinctly separated from the rest of the body, and is cylindrical 

 and small ; the mouth is dentated inwardly, and on the outer edge is marked with five 

 distinct auricles, which descend upon the upper portion of the body, but do not form a 

 distinct part of it. The body is attenuated at both extremities, and is linear in shape ; 

 in the female it is, as it were, minutely clathrate, being situated transversely with fine 

 lines, and having the spaces between the lines minutely longitudinally striated or 

 sulcated, giving, under tolerably high power, the appearance of being latticed or 



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