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



239 



Fig. S. 



Outline of Aphistoma HawJcesii 

 (X4 diam.). 



as the finder states, a 



Reproductive papilla small, situated nearly midway between the mouth and upper 

 margin of the caudal sucker. 



Length, on the average, f of an inch ; the longest specimen -~^ of an inch. 

 Breadth \ of an inch. 



Hub. Large intestines of Elephas indicus. 



In my general treatise, and likewise in the pages of the ' Veterinarian ' ante- 

 cedently, I have recorded the occurrence of this entozoon ; but 

 hitherto it has, zoologically speaking, remained undescrihed. 

 My first acquaintance with it dates as far back as June 

 1875. Towards the close of that month I received from Lieut. - 

 Colonel Hawkes a set of parasites for identification. Attached 

 to the Madras Staff Corps, Colonel Hawkes forwarded the 

 specimens from Secunderabad, at which station there had been 

 a recent and rather serious mortality amongst the Elephants. 

 The cause of that mortality will be subsequently considered 

 when I treat of the injurious effects of the parasites already 

 described. Having explained by a letter to the donor that 

 these parasites were new to science, I provisionally named 

 the species AmpMstoma Hawkesii in his honor. 



In the fresh state the parasites have a bright rosy tint, or, 

 " delicate flesh-colour." Probably this colour, more or less pronounced, is invariable 

 amongst the Amphistomes ; at least such has been the case with all the forms that I have 

 examined in the fresh state. Similarly some Amphistomes received by me from an 

 Indian horse were reported by the finder as having a brick-red colour when removed, 

 post mortem. Here it is desirable that I should speak more fully of these equine 

 Amphistomes. They were found in the year 1875, by Veterinary-Surgeon Collins, of 

 H.M.'s Indian army, stationed at Simla. As equine parasites, however, they do not 

 appear to have been the earliest-seen specimens. None, indeed, had hitherto been 

 scientifically described as coming from the horse ; but my attention was subsequently 

 called to a set of specimens preserved in the private collection of Professor Simonds, at 

 the Royal Veterinary College. As since stated in my latest work, the parasites be- 

 longing to Simonds were at the time regarded by me as mere varieties of the species 

 found by Vet. -Surgeon Collins. I accordingly spoke of them as AmpMstoma Collinsii, 

 var. Stanleyi. I employed the variation-term in order to give expression to the circum- 

 stance that Professor Simonds received his specimens from Vet. -Surgeon Stanley, who 

 also obtained the Amphistomes in India. The date of Mr. Stanley's ' find ' has been 

 lost; but from Professor Simonds's recollection it would be about the year 1865. 



I have recorded these few facts respecting the equine Amphistomes because, after a 

 recent and more careful study of the worms, I have come to the conclusion that the 

 parasites found by Mr. Stanley, though comparatively large, are really identical with 

 the particular Amphistomes I am now describing from the Elephant. At present, 

 however, I do not pronounce definitely respecting Collins's Amphistome, which will 

 probably be found to remain as a good species. In the horse dissected at Simla, 



SECOND SERIES. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. II. 33 



