40 EXPERIMENTS WITH CERTAIN DIPTERA. 



Onchocerca bovis, Piettre. 



We desire to mention the occurrence of a second species 

 oiOnchocerca in Australian cattle. Our attention was drawn 

 to its presence by ]\Ii". N. V. Bro\\Ti who forwarded specimens 

 from cattle slaughtered at Rockhampton. He stated that 

 they occurred in a more or less tangled condition in the 

 connective tissues between the ligamentum nuchse, also 

 in the stifle joint, and mentioned that the same kind of 

 parasite was to be met with between the spleen and stomach. 

 This situation is similar to that in which Stiles and Hassall 

 found their undescribed Filaria lienalis which is now 

 generally regarded as being an Onchocerca, and which we 

 now suggest is probably a synonym of 0. bovis. 



The material was sent to us early in 1919 but was only 

 cursorily examined at the time, being provisionally labelled 

 8ks 0. gvMurosa Neumann, the female resembling that of the 

 Algerian species. 



The finding of manj* males while recently overhauling 

 the material led to their re-examination. It was seen 

 that they differed from the males of 0. gutturosa but 

 apparently resembled those of 0. bovis Piettre, as far as 

 available information allowed us to compare them. We 

 have not been able to obtain Piettre's original paper (1912) 

 in Brisbane, and have had to content ourselves with a trans- 

 lation of another of his articles (1916) on bovine Onchocer- 

 ciatsis in South America ; and with the tabulated measure- 

 ments contained in Dr. Sweet's excellent paper on 

 " (Jnchocerciasis in Cattle, etc., in countries other than 

 Australia " (1915, pp. 45-7). 



The male papillary arrangement is of the Onchocerca 

 type, there being on each side four closely set perianal 

 papillae, a post anal near the tail, and two caudal. The 

 longer spicules measure from .180 to .215 mm. and the 

 shorter .050 to .070 mm. The measurements in Dr. Sweet's 

 table are .180 to .210 and .065 to .075 mm. respectively. 

 The males lie free in a more or less loosely coiled manner 

 while the females are more or less loosely entwined in the 

 fibrous tissue. At least four males were obtained from 

 the tissue which contained apparently a single female. The 

 body markings of the latter are of the type figured by Neu- 

 mann as occurring in O. gutturosa. 



