254 TIMOTHY RICHAaDS LEAVIS. 



hsematozoon of the crow/ they will be found to bear a close 

 resemblance to it. It is very possible that these embryos 

 may not have been derived from the crow, but there can be but 

 little doubt, judging from the character of the red blood-cor- 

 puscles, that they had been derived from some bird. Facts of this 

 kind also add to the difficulty of ascertaining precisely the 

 various developmental processes which any particular species of 

 liEematozoou undergo. 



The Mature eorm of Pilaria sanguinis-hominis. 



A letter appeared in the ' Lancet' of 14th July, 1 877, from Dr. 

 Cobbold, announcing the discovery of Dr. Bancroft, of Brisbane, 

 Australia^ of what was believed to be the mature Filaria saii- 

 guinis. They had been found on two occasions ; on the first^ a 

 dead specimen was found in a lymphatic abscess of the arm ; and 

 the second time four living specimens were obtained whilst tap- 

 ping a hydrocele of the spermatic cord. Eegarding these Dr. 

 Bancroft had written the following description : " The worm is 

 about the thickness of a human hair, and is from three to four 

 inches long. By two loops from the centre of the body it emits 

 the filarise described by Carter in immense numbers." 



During the last six years I have taken considerable interest in 

 questions of this nature, and have, through the kindness of pro- 

 fessional friends in India, had frequent opportunities of searching 

 for the parental form of the Filaria sanguinis-Jiominis, but only 

 succeeded in obtaining it on one occasion. This was a little more 

 than a year ago — 7th August, 1877. Descriptions of the speci- 

 mens were published at the time," but, in a paper dealing with 

 the organisms of the blood, a brief account of these particulars 

 should find a place. 



Por the opportunity of examining the particular case in which 

 the filarise were found I am indebted to the kindness of the late 

 Dr. Gayer. The patient was a young Bengalee affected with 

 well-marked naevoid elephantiasis of the scrotum, associated with 

 the presence of embryo-filarise in the blood. The tumour and 

 the sanguineous exudation which escaped on its removal were 

 collected, and submitted to careful examination, and, after a 

 continuous search of eight hours, the long sought-for helminth 

 was eventually obtained. The specimens were, however, so greatly 

 mangled by the needles used in teasing a clot under a dissecting 



^ We hope to be able to reproduce the section of the monograph dealing 

 with the microscopic hferaatozoa of animals in our next number. — Ed. 



- 'Indian Medical Gazette, 1st September, 1S77; ' The Lancet,' 29th 

 September, 1877, p. 453 ; ' Centralblatt fiir die medicinische Wissen- 

 schaften,' No. 43 ; 1877, p. 770. 



