PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY DURING THE QUARTER. 67 



they must cause the animal considerable pain, and interfere with proper nutrition, 

 especially of the bowels- The young strongyles are able to travel about, in conse- 

 quence of the boring apparatus on their heads, but generally prefer a much easier 

 method of progression. They bore into the blood vessels, and are carried by the 

 bl >od current to different parts of the body, and so we can easily understand how 

 they may turn up anywhere. The very young and the adult worms live in the 

 alimentary canal of the horse; the latter escape from the bowel and discharge egg3 

 which are hatched by natural influences, and the young escape into the soil, 

 and enter the bodies of small snails, where they reside comfortably until the snails 

 are. swallowed with food by the horse. They then escape into the stomach and 

 intestines, and bore their way through the walls of the alimentary canal. The adults 

 can be expelled and killed by "worm medicines," especially santonin. 



6. The " wandering eel-like worms " (Filaria papillosa) must not be mistaken for 

 armed strong} T les. We seldom open a horse in this country without finding wrig- 

 gling about in the warm moist cavity of the abdomen one or more long white worms, 

 the males with corkscrew tails, but smaller than the females. But one of the most 

 familiar appearances of these creatures in an immature form is in the eye of the 

 horse, occasionally of the ox. The eel-like worm of the eye of the horse can he seen 

 quite plainly at first disporting himself in this natural aquarium, but very soon he 

 gives rise to so much irritation as to cause complete clouding over of the eye and 

 often permanent loss of sight. A surgical operation for removal of the worm has 

 to be resorted to, and very frequently proves quite effectual. The parasite is much 

 more frequent in low-lying marshy districts than in others, and in India notably 

 occurs in Lower Bengal. It is remarkable that worm in the eye is practically never 

 seen in England, and therefore its treatment is a speciality of Indian Veterinary 

 Surgery. In other respects this worm is known to cause serious inflammation of 

 the organs of the abdomen. 



The England " Flukes" or fiat worms (Fasciola hepatica), like those which cause 

 rot in sheep, are not uncommon as cause of diseased liver in horses and asses. lu 

 India this species seems rare, but a near ally, the Amphistome, is very common and 

 rather important. On opening the caecum and colon we not unfrequently find 

 enormous numbers of small reddish bodies, like grains of barley, mixed with the 

 bowel contents. These on examination prove to have a sucker at each end of the 

 body, which tised to be mistaken for mouths, hence their " mouth at both ends." 

 They cause a good deal of irritation, and in their effects resemble and are nearly as 

 serious as the blood-sucking strongyle, than which they in India are more frequent. 

 Liberal salt ration is the best preventative of them, and, indeed, a measure to which 

 all horse owners in this country should constantly resort, care being taken that the 

 horse, not his syce, obtains the benefit 'of the salt. These atnphistomes like other 

 flukes are remarkable for the complex and numerous developmental stages through 

 which they pass. At one time swimming freely in tank water in all the glory of a 

 long tail, at another ignominiously encysted in the body of snail, finally settling 

 down not uncomfortably to a fat living, enjoying otium cum dignitate iu the caecum 

 or colon of the horse. There are many animals that have a much worse time of it 

 than a fluke ! Individual flukes, unlike strongyles, contain both male and female 

 organs. 



8. Tapeworms are not frequent in the adult form in vegetable feeders, although 

 among the principal parasite torments of flesh-eaters and man. Yet we do see small 

 taeniae in the large bowel of the horse ; in so far as my experience goes, very rarely 



