ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
On the Anatomy of Ascaris (ATRACTIS) DACTYLURIS. By 
ALEXANDER MacatisteEr, F.R.G.S.I., L.R.C.S.1L.* 
As the attention of the Members of the Natural History 
Society of Dublin has been of late directed to the considera- 
tion of the group of Entozoa, I think it might not be unin- 
teresting to communicate a few anatomical facts with regard 
to the structure of a species of intestinal worm which has 
lately fallen under my observation. While engaged in ex- 
amining the anatomy of Testudo greca, I was surprised to 
find that the alimentary canal in all the individuals which I 
dissected was filled with worms in large quantities, in fact, 
that entozoa constituted more than half their feecal contents ; 
of these there were several species, but that which was most 
numerous was the small, white, usually straight, and some- 
what shuttle-shaped Ascaris dactyluris, first discovered by 
Bremser, and named by Rudolphi. The species is described 
by the latter naturalist in his ‘Synopsis Entozoorum,’ pp. 40- 
272, as “ Ascaris dactyluris capite nudo, corpore utrinque 
eequaliter attenuato, caudo femine longa subulata, maris apice 
brevis obtuso depresso ante quem spicula passim substantia 
passim egressa vasa in vaginam fimbriatam.” In his sub- 
sequent description he refers to it as being found in great 
abundance; he obtained “ multa millia specimina ut maxima 
feecum pars lisdem constaret,” exactly according with my own 
experience as stated above; he likewise describes it as being 
from two to two and a half lines long, with a three-valved head ; 
a straight, narrow cesophagus, which is longer in the male than 
in the female, a subglobose stomach, and elliptic oblong ova, 
each with a large and obscurely divided nucleus. There are 
several points of greater or less importance which he has 
omitted in his description, but on the whole these characters 
are very distinct. Dujardin, in the appendix to his work on 
‘Intestinal Worms,’ refers to this animal, and states his opinion 
that it should be separated from the genus Ascaris on account 
* Read before the Natural History Society of Dublin, 2nd June, 1865. 
VOL. VI.—NEW SER. G 
