395 



September 1, 1858. 



The President in the Chair. 



The President made a communication on several par- 

 asites which he had found in the American Deer, Cervus 

 Virginianus. 



In the nasal passages he found an Mstrus, somewhat resembling 

 that of the sheep ; possibly it may be a new species, as its body is 

 longer and the spines are more scattered over the segments than 

 in specimens he had examined from other animals. In the bron- 

 chial tubes he found a Filaria, or thread-worm. The eggs of this 

 genus, as is well known, are laid in the ground, and the larvae, if 

 lucky enough to find a suitable animal nidus, as a grasshopper, en- 

 ter it and are there developed into the immature state in which they 

 are met with in insects ; how they get into mammals and reach 

 their full development is not satisfactorily ascertained. In the liver 

 were found Distoma and Cysticercus — some of the former were 

 exhibited two inches long ; they are very common in adults, less so 

 in yearlings, and so much so that hunters never eat the liver, tak- 

 ing it for granted that it contains these parasites ; their presence is 

 indicated by the external appearance of the liver ; if mature 

 they were contained, four or five in number, in a thick cyst ; the 

 smaller ones were not inclosed in a cyst, but in the centre of a 

 mass of softened and grumous blood, and seemed to be burrow- 

 ing in search of a resting-place ; such traces of their wanderings 

 were found in various parts of the organ. Gysticerci were found 

 in several instances, of small size, but with the head largely 

 developed ; it would be interesting to examine the catamount, 

 which preys upon deer, to ascertain if tapeworms exist in their 

 intestines. No Taenia was found in the deer, and a imori we 

 should not expect to find it. The deer did not seem to be inju- 

 riously affected by any of these parasites. He had found Filaria 

 in the heart of the porpoise and seal, always in the right cavities ; 

 he thought it probable that they burrow into the portal vessels, 



