The Anatomy of Pentastomum teretius- 

 culum (Baird), 



By 



\W, Balcli;i'in iSpencer, H.A., 



Professor of Biology in the University of Melbourne. 



With Plates I— IX. 



During the summer of 1887-8 the Field Naturalist Club 

 of Victoria arranged for the annual collecting expedition of 

 its members to be made to King Island. The latter lies to 

 the west of Bass Straits, halfway between the mainland of 

 Victoria and Tasmania, and is a wild and, save for two light- 

 house keepers, uninhabited island. Whilst collecting we came 

 across very numerous specimens of the copper-head snake 

 (Hoplocephalus superbus), and in one of these my atten- 

 tion was drawn by my friend and pupil, Mr. E. Dombrain, to 

 the presence of a parasite in the lung, which proved on examina- 

 tion to be a large specimen of some species of Pentastomum. 

 Shortly afterwards I killed another snake of the same species, 

 and on cutting the body open found the lung to be crowded 

 with the same parasite. The weather was extremely warm, 

 and, as we were on the tramp, all that could be done was to put 

 the animal into spirits, and trust to finding the parasite again 

 for the purpose of watching it alive. This opportunity has 

 unfortunately not occurred, though since that time I have cut 

 open many ^^copper-heads" in the hope of finding the Penta- 

 stomum. Mr. D. McAlpine has been good enough to give me 

 four specimens of the same species of Pentastomum, which 



VOL. XXXIVj PART I. — NEW SEE. A 



