A NEW CESTODE FROM AN AFRICAN BUSTARD. 



By Brayton Howard Ransom, 



Assistant Custodian, Helminthological Collections, U. S. National Museum. 



Among the collections of the Smithsonian African expedition, 

 1909-10, there are some specimens of tapeworms collected July 4, 

 1909, from the lower intestine of a bustard, Neotis cajfra (Lichten- 

 stein), by Mr. J. Alden Loring, at N'garri, Narok River, British East 

 Africa (original number 233). These specimens, about a dozen in 

 number, are in a poor state of preservation. Notwithstanding their 

 poor condition it has been possible to establish certain facts relative 

 to their morphology which show that they belong to a species of the 

 family Davaineidse hitherto undescribed. Furthermore, the worms 

 are not only of a new species but on account of several character- 

 istics not in accord with any genus heretofore recognized, they also 

 represent a new genus, for which the name Sphyroncotsenia {ofopa, a 

 hammer; byKog, a hook) is proposed. To the species is given the 

 name Sphyroncotsenia uncinata. 



Genus SPHYRONCOTSENIA Ransom, 1911. 



Generic diagnosis. — Superfamily Tsenioidea, family Davaineidge, 

 subfamily Idiogeninse: Rostellum armed with numerous hammer- 

 shaped hooks arranged in 10 to 12 rows. Suckers unarmed. Cortical 

 parenchyma and longitudinal musculature greatly developed, with 

 numerous muscle bundles. Genital pores unilateral. Genital canals 

 pass ventral of the longitudinal excretory vessel and nerve. Testicles 

 numerous. Female glands on the pore side of the median line. Eggs 

 in uterus become more or less isolated by ingrowths of the uterine 

 wall. A para-uterine organ is present in gravid segments in front of 

 the uterus. Adults in birds. 



Type-species. — Sphyroncotsenia uncinata Ransom, 1911. 



SPHYRONCOT^NIA UNCINATA Ransom, 1911. 



Specific diagnosis. — Sphyroncotsenia (type) : Length, 22 to 37 

 cm.; breadth at middle of strobila, 1 to 2 mm.; breadth at posterior 

 end, 2 to 3 mm.; maximum breadth, 3.5 to 4 mm. at a point 1 to 4 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. 40— No. 1844. 



637 



