115 



June 9, 1857. 



Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.. in the Chair. 

 The following papers were read :—r 

 1. On the Anatomy of a new Species of Pentastoma found 



IN THE LUNG AND AiR-SAC OF AN EgYPTIAN CoBRA. By 



George Harley, M. D., F. C. S., of University College, 

 London. 



(Annulosa, PI. XLVI., XLVII.) 



Having lately had the opportunity of dissecting a fine specimeii 

 of Entozoon, which, as far as I am aware, is an entirely new and un- 

 described species, a brief description of its anatomy may perhaps 

 prove interesting to the members of the Society. 



The wonn which I am about to describe was found in the lung of 

 the Egyptian Cobra, Naja Hage, kindly sent to me for examination 

 by D. W. Mitchell, Esq. I vvas fortiinate enough to obtain four 

 fine specimens, nearly all of equal size, from the šame animal. They 

 measure from 4 to 5 inches in length, and from 5 to 8 Unes in cir- 

 cumference. In external characters^hey seem to resemble an En- 

 tozoon found in the lung of a Cobra by Dr. Crisp, a short descrip- 

 tion of which was given in the Proceedings of the Society for 1853, 

 p. 22, Annul. pi. 30. fig. 7, by Dr. Baird ; who špoke of it as an un- 

 described species of Pentastoma, and gavę it the name of Pentastoma 

 annulatum. Dr. Baird's description of the specimen is, however, 

 very short, and unfortunately incomplete, in consequence of his 

 having seen only a small specimen, and that even imperfectly, on ac- 

 count of the most important fact, the head remaining imbedded, and 

 hidden from view in the lung of the snake. I think it probable, 

 however, that the animal which he described is one of the šame 

 species as I have obtained specimens of. 



External characters. 



The body of the entozoon is of a white colour, elongated, cylindrical 

 and strongly ringed (PI. XLVI. fig. 1). It begins with a round obtuse 

 head, attached to the trunk by a short somewhat narrow ueck. The 

 body then gradually widens for the first three lines, where it mea- 

 sures in the largest specimen (4| inches long) 8 lines in circum- 

 ference, and from here down to within a fevr lines of the caudai 

 extremity, continues of nearly the šame diameter. Below this poiut 

 it becomes regularly narrower the nearer we approach to the poste- 

 rior end, which terminates obtusely. The caudai extremity is almost 

 of the šame diameter as the head. The rings which are, as before 

 mentioned, very strongly marked, commence close to the posterior 

 part of the head, and for the first three or four lines, gradually iu- 



