BY T. HARVEY JOHNSTON. ATE 
Prof. J. Gilruth and Dr. G. Sweet*, as a result of ex- 
periment, were led to state (p. 29) that “one may infer 
that neither direct contact nor apparently the intermedia- 
tion of Hemotapinus vituli or H. eurysternus coe 
can act as a means of transmission ’’ of the parasite ; and 
believed the intermediate host to be afly. They brought 
forward evidence which appeared to support the view that 
the Onchocerca was introduced into Australia long ago 
in Indian oxen. They mentioned that it is still met with 
in cross-bred descendents of Brahma cattle in the Northern 
Territory and that the nodules occur in Javanese bovines 
(p. 25). The probability of infection taking place during 
the first few years of the calf’s life was restated, mention 
being made of the facts that there is little, if any, reinfec- 
tion afterwards and that there is a tendency for the nodules 
to diminish in size and eventually disappear. 
Dr. A. Breinlf published in 1913 an account of part 
of the anatomy of the parasite and of experiments to deter- 
mine the life history. He endeavoured to determine 
whether the larvee could escape from the capsule surroundng 
the parent and penetrate the skin of the host and found them 
in scrapings of the surface in five out of nearly one hundred 
experiments, the positive results being obtained on hot, 
rainy days. He, however, states that “‘the finding of 
Onchocerca larve on the outer skin over nodules is of 
too rare occurrence to be taken into consideration, and may 
only represent a pathological curiosity, especially as the 
larve belong morphologically to the group which seem to 
require an insect as intermediary host similar to Filaria 
bancrofli and not to the group of Filaria medinensis which 
are able to live and move in water.” 
He was unable to infect the stable fly Stomoxys calcit- 
rans, various mosquitoes, and the Australian leech Hirudo 
* J; A. Gilruth and G. Sweet. Further observations on Onchocerca 
gibsoni, the cause of the worm nodules in cattle. P.R.S., Vict., 25, 1912, 
pp. 23-30. 
+ Investigations into the Morphology and life history of Onchocerea 
gibsoni. Rep. Austr. Instit. Trop. Medicine for 1911 (April, 1913), 
pp. 5-17. 
