FILARIINAE 197 



present. Spicules unequal, the longer tapering distally to 

 a long lash with delicate alae and having a spoon-like ter- 

 mination ; the shorter thicker, uniform and gutter-like, 

 coarsely marked distally. A small accessory piece present, 

 crescentic in optical section. Tail of female rather long, 

 bluntly rounded. Vulva a little behind the middle of the 

 oesophagus. Vagina with thick, pyriform ovej actor, followed 

 by a long, cylindrical tube. Embryos with " sheath." 



Hab. Adults in connective tissue of Mammals. Embryos 

 in vascular system of Mammals, and in blood-sucking Insects. 

 Genotype : W. [Filaria] bancrofti (Cobbold, 1877). 



Cobbold, 1877, Lancet, ii, 70, 495; Silva Araujo, 1877, 

 Gaz. med. da Bahia, (2) ii, 492, 503 ; Leiper, 1913, Trans. Soc. 

 Trop. Med. Htjg., vi, 273; Seurat, 1921, Bull. Soc. Hist. nat. 

 Afrique du Nord, Alger, xii, 36 ; Yorke & Maplestone, 1926, 

 The Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates, London, 401. 



According to Stiles & Hassall (1920, U.S. Pub. Health Serv., 

 Hyg. Lab. Bull. 114, 881) it is not clear whether Wuchereria 

 Silva Araujo was intended as a new genus, with type filaria, 

 or whether it was a lapsus for Filaria wuchereria. According 

 to Seurat (1921) Silva Araujo's species is a synonym of Filaria 

 bancrofti, and Yorke & Maplestone follow him in regarding 

 Wuchereria as a genus. We have taken our diagnosis largely 

 from Yorke & Maplestone (who have examined specimens of 

 the genotype), and have provisionally accepted the genus. 

 It may be noted, however, that there seems to be very little 

 to separate this from Acanthocheilonema, unless it be the 

 " sheathed " condition of the larvae. 



6. Litomosa Yorke & Maplestone, 1926. 



SjTi. Litosoma van Beneden, 1873, nee Douglas & Scott, 1865. 



Cviticle transparent, smooth. Head slightly thickened. 

 Mouth without lip-like structures, leading into a short buccal 

 capsule with thickened walls, narrower in front than behind. 

 Oesophagus short, apparently not divided into two regions. 

 Tail of male digitiform, without alae or papillae, but with a 

 short subterminal point. Spicules unequal; the left long, 

 with a stout proximal portion and a slender, filiform, diatal 

 portion; the right short and broad, with a spatulate process 

 at the tip. Tail of female elongate, digitiform, with two 

 divergent terminal points between which are two small spines. 

 Vulva small, not prominent, situated at the level of the 

 posterior end of the oesophagus. Common trunk of uterus 

 long. Uterine branches parallel. 



Hab. Abdominal cavity of Bats (one species known). 

 Genotjrpe : P. [Litosoma] filaria (van Beneden, 1873). 



