DE. T. S. COBBOLD ON THE PAEASITES OF ELEPHANTS. 233 



4. Strongylus foliattts, sp. nov. (Plate XXIII. figs. 9-13.) 



Body smooth, of nearly uniform thickness, finely striated transversely. Head 

 indistinct, truncated in front, with five small auriculate folds. Month slightly ohlique, 

 leading to a deep buccal cup, armed with a few coarse teeth, succeeded by a long muscular 

 oesophagus. Neck marked by two short conical papillae at the upper part, one on either 

 side, and by two larger and longer tapering papillae placed lower down. Hood bilobed, 

 foliate. Rays few in number, and widely separated. Spicules long, flattened, and 

 twisted at the base, tapering and finely pointed below at the apes. Tail of the female 

 well marked, long and conical, with a wavy contour, directed backwards, and rapidly 

 narrowing to form a subulate point. Anus in front, and immediately above the base of 

 the tail. 



Length of the male h an inch. 



Length of the female f of an inch. 



Sab. Tumours within the coats of the stomach of Elephas indicus. 



On the 24th of August 1876, I examined part of the carcass of an Elephant at the 

 Royal Veterinary College. The viscera had been removed from one of several animals 

 that had died at the Circus stables of Mr. Sanger. Mr. Steel, during his previous dis- 

 sections of this animal, had already encountered some parasites ; but in addition to these, 

 I obtained others occupying tumours in the walls of the stomach. The morbid swellings 

 were of two sizes, the larger and more rounded kind containing the species under con- 

 sideration, the smaller and comparatively flat tumours being occupied by worms of a 

 different generic type. 



On the external or mucous surface of one of the larger growths there was an opening 

 of the diameter of a crow-quill. This appeared to be the only communication between 

 the cavity of the stomach and the interior of the tumour. On section the growth dis- 

 played a coarsely alveolar structure, its freely intercommunicating loculi being filled 

 with thick mucus, in which a few parasites were found imbedded. 



The swellings in question are very similar to the well-known verminous tumours, 

 occupied by maw-worms, of the horse ; the parasites, however, are perfectly distinct. 

 Through the help of Mr. Spooner Hart of Calcutta, I have had opportunity to examine 

 specimens of the growths removed from a horse that died at Calcutta stables. In Mr. 

 Hart's experience these formations are rather common in India ; but it would probably 

 be incorrect to assume that they are more prevalent in eastern countries than in Europe. 

 Be that as it may, it is scarcely more than forty years since M. Valenciennes found these 

 singular worm-tumours to exist in eleven horses out of the twenty-four animals whose 

 stomachs he specially submitted to examination. Not improbably, therefore, if medical 

 men, army veterinary surgeons, and others practically interested would make use of 

 their opportunities, the statistics of gastric parasitism, both as affecting elephants and 

 horses, would afford much curious instruction. The natural-history value of the facts 

 would lie further increased by similar investigations amongst the Rhinoceroses and other 

 large herbivora. Although Schneider and Molin have both described parasites taken from 

 similar tumours in the American Tapir, we as yet know absolutely nothing of the 

 entozoa infesting the Tapir of the Malayan peninsula. 



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