DE. T. S. COBBOLD OX THE PAEASITES OF ELEPHANTS. 



235 



Fig. 4. 



directed backwards. Tail of the female very distinct, scythe-shaped, and finely pointed. 

 Reproductive outlet placed at a short distance above the anus, at the base of the tail. 

 Length of the male 1 inch (or 11 to 13 lines). 

 Length of the female 1 to If inch (or 12 to 20 lines). 



Hob. Intestines of JSlephas iiul/cus. 



With the unassisted eye this species is readily recognized by its bright colour, the 

 orange-red tint about the head gradually becoming feeble towards the anterior third 

 of the body. Out of two dozen examples of this worm I only secured two males ; and 

 these were picked out from amongst a quantity of other nematode species. The worms 

 had not been well preserved ; and their bodies had become coated with fungi. 



Not wishing to mutilate the only two male worms I possessed, my interpretation of 

 tbe appearances of adhesion and union at the base of the bursa may be partly incorrect. 

 So far as I made out, the rays not only conform to the type-number, but present little 

 that is striking either as regards their shape or their arrangements. Speaking generally, 

 those of the side lobes of the hood are short and stumpy, whilst those of the middle lobe 

 are compararatively large and long. The anterior ray (a) is dichotomous, with adherent 

 divisions. The antero-lateral ray (b) is simple 

 and normal in position. The middle ray (c c') is 

 bifurcated, and has its branches rather widely 

 apart. The postero-lateral ray (d) is compara- 

 tively long and well within the middle hood-lobe. 

 The posterior ray (e e') is unusually large, and 

 divided into subequal halves, both of which nearly 

 reach the lower border of the hood. A consider- 

 able space separates the inner branch from its 

 fellow of the opposite side. 



The spicules form a striking object. Viewed 

 from before or in front, the two shafts present a 

 lyrate figure, owing to their lower ends being 

 bent first outwards laterally, then inwards late- 

 rally, and finally, in an oblique direction, backwards divergently (PL XXIV. fig. 2). 

 Seen in profile the shafts appear rather narrower ; and they appear to lie parallel to each 

 other, except at their somewhat flattened and blunt points. The sheaths in which the 

 spicules usually lie, more or less concealed, can be seen within the half-transparent body, 

 powerful adductor muscles being inserted at the upper or closed ends of these pouches. 



The body of the male at the lower part measures about the -^ of an inch in transverse 

 diameter, whilst the spicules, which are of equal size, afforded a length of fully ys °f an i ncu - 



The best-preserved female worms had their oviducts crowded with eggs. Each 

 ordinary ovum gave an average long diameter of -g^y by -g-Jo of an inch in breadth. 

 Such eggs contained a dense and finely segmented yolk. On one occasion I observed 

 a solitary empty egg-envelope, which gave a measurement of no less than t \q of an inch 

 from pole to pole, by 2^u of an inch in breadth. At the same time, and certainly from 

 the same source, the field of the microscope displayed an embryo that had evidently escaped 



Diagram of the hood and rays of Strongylus 

 faldfer ( x 43 diaiu.). 



