230 RESEARCHES IN HELMINTHOI.OGY AND PARASITOLOGY. 



it was infested. Some of these had occasioned a considerable degree 

 of ulceration along the base of the caudal fin. Chief among them 

 was the large Lernea, Peyiella fi/osa, which hung in great clusters 

 from the root of the dorsal and other fins. They were from five to 

 seven inches long, and had the head and neck buried in the flesh of 

 the fish from one to three inches. To many of them were appended 

 the curious barnacle, Conc/iodenna virgata ; on one Pcnclla a bunch 

 of seven, most of which were nearly two inches long. Were also 

 more or less profu.sely covered with colonies of the Hydroid Polyp;; 

 Eucopc parasitica. 



The characters of the Penella are as follows : Head compressed 

 .spheroid, ventrall}' thickly papillate, dorsally with a median and 

 lateral pair of obtuse horns. Neck long and cylindrical, with 4 pairs 

 of minute black hooks just behind the head ventrally. Thorax 

 thicker, cylindrical, annulated. Abdomen or tail shorter, narrower 

 and annulated, with crowded lateral filamentary appendages branch- 

 ing from the base. Ovaries long and filiform. Head, neck, and 

 ovaries straw-colored ; thorax, abdomen, and appendages black. 



In the Regne Animal of Cuvier, it says, there is in the Mediter- 

 ranean a species, Penella Jilosa, seven or eight inches long, which 

 penetrates into the flesh of the Sword-fish, the Tunny, and the Sun- 

 fish, and torments them horribly. Similar cases of the wonderful 

 bounty of nature are frequent, and remind us of the remarks of Mr. 

 Spencer, considered more favorable to the evolutionary than to the 

 special creation theory. While to both may be applied the question, 

 w^hy the amount of suffering entailed on sentient beings by parasites 

 could not have been avoided, to the former there does not ariise the 

 question, why are the}' deliberately inflicted? 



Of other crustacean parasites of the Sun-fish there were three. Of 

 these one, Cecrops Latrcillii, Leach, was attached to the gills. .Six 

 mature females were about an inch in length, and three of them had 

 the male appended, about half the length, and had well-stocked ova- 

 ries. Three additional young females were 14 mm. long. 



The other two species were attached to ulcerated surfaces at the 

 root of the caudal fin. One of them, Lcemargiis miiricahis Kroyer. 

 of which there were four females, were from 15 to 18 mm. long. 



The remaining .species, nearly resembling J^eeviargus, seems to be 

 the Lkncmahira serrata Kroyer. of which there were three females 

 from 6 to 7 mm. long. 



Gliding on the skin, at the sides of the body of the fish, was the 

 circular Fluke- worm, Tristomum Rudolp/iia7iirni, of which four ranged 

 from 16 to 20 mm. in breadth. 



