Pea CO ROSCOPE 
OC TOP EIR. 1S O° 
NUMBER 58 NEW SERIES 
$y 
A Curious Nematoid Parasite. 
By OLIVER COLLETT, 
CEYLON. 
In thestomach of an insect, Mantis religiosa, was found 
a curious parasite of remarkable length. 
The female Mantis from which the parasite was taken 
was nearly full grown, It measured 2% inches in length 
from front of head to tip of tail, and four inches in 
breadth across the outstretched wing-cases. Its abdomen 
measured one inch long and half an inch in width. It 
seems incredible then that in the stomach of this insect 
there should have lived a parasitic worm measuring one- 
thirtieth of an inch in diameter and no less than two feet 
three and a half inches in length. Indeed, the length 
of the parasite was equal to almost twelve times that of 
the entire body of its host. 
