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of the Jurua district, who, in order to protect themselves, rarely enter 

 the river without covering the genitalia by means of a sheath formed of 

 a cocoanut-shell, with a minute perforation to let out urine, maintained 

 in a sort of bag of palm-fibers suspended from a belt of the same mate- 

 rial. The fish is attracted by the urine, and when once it has made its 

 way into the urethra, cannot be pulled out again owing to the spines 

 Vvhich arm its opercles. The only means of preventing it from reach- 

 ing the bladder, where it causes inflammation and ultimately death, is to 

 instantly amputate the penis; and at Tres Unidos, Dr. Bach had actually 

 examined a man and three boys with amputated penis as a result of this 

 dreadful accident. Dr. Bach was therefore satisfied that the account 

 given of this extraordinary habit of the 'Candirii' is perfectly trust- 

 worthy. Mr. Boulenger further showed a photograph, taken by Dr. Bach, 

 of two nude Indians wearing the protective purse." 



It is to be noted here that, while this evidence is quite circumstantial, 

 it is only circumstantial. Dr. Bach did not himself operate or help to 

 operate or remove the Candiru, and a much simpler operation than 

 amputation would have been sufficient to remove it. 



Pellegrin (Bull. Soc. Philom. de Paris, (11), I, 1909, pp. 5-8) further 

 quoting Jobert's account, says that at Para there are two species of 

 Candirus, only one of which penetrates the urethra, the other, the horse 

 Candiru, attaches itself to any part of the body and also attacks horses. 

 Dr. Jobert himself, who went in bathing near Para, was attacked within 

 less than five minutes and found scratches in a group five to six inches 

 long and a centimeter or more wide. He did not secure the creature 

 which attacked him. 



In "Die Natur", XIX, p. 180, Miiller, in reporting on the travels of 

 Gustav Wallis, says that Wallis noted a fish in the Huallaga called the 

 Candiru, which is as much feared in the water as mosquitoes and ants on 

 land. This Candiru attaches to any portion of the body like a leech and 

 spreads retrorse hooks in the wound so that it is only with considerable 

 pain that it can be removed. It prefers the most secret parts of the 

 body and it was reported to him that the consequent operation some- 

 times causes death. One specimen of this Candiru was given to Leukart 

 and by him to Liitken, who described it as Acanthopoma annectens. It 

 probably belongs to the Stegophilini. 



That a fish, or several species of fishes, found in the Amazon Valley 



5-11994 



