284 Account of a Filaria in a Horse’s E'ye. 
M. De Blainville, in the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles, 
describes twelve species of F%laria, and mentions thirty-one oth- 
ers, which are doubtful, and whose names are derived from the 
species of birds, fishes, quadrupeds, insects and reptiles which 
they inhabit. The points of difference among these do not ap- 
pear sufficient to constitute them into distinct species, with the 
exception, perhaps, of the four following, viz. coronata, acumin- 
ata, plicata and alata, which have been minutely described by 
Rudolphi and De Blainville. For our knowledge of the others, 
we are chiefly indebted to Lamarck and Reessel. The principal 
animals in which the F%/aria has been detected are the vulture, 
eagle, falcon, owl, swan, duck, stork, heron, lark, starling and 
linnet, among birds, and the horse, swine, ox, hare, weasel and 
lion, among quadrupeds; in numerous species of fishes, and cole- 
opterous insects, among the lower orders. 
r. Nordmann, in his work above referred to, states that he has 
detected the Ft/aria in the eye of a person affected with cataract, 
also a hydatid in the eye of a young woman. Ehrenberg agrees 
with Nordmann in opinion that cataract and some other diseases 
of the eye, are probably owing to an accumulation of these par- 
asitic animals. This writer has shown very satisfactorily that 
quadrupeds, birds, reptiles and fishes have each their eye-worms, 
which are, for the most part, peculiar to each species. Several of 
these are figured in his work ; among which, one that, infests the 
eyes of different species of perch, is very conspicuous. In one 
instance he counted 360 of these in the eye of a single fish af- 
fected with cataract. “This little animal,” says Kirby in his 
Bridgewater Treatise, “appears something related to the Planaria 
or pseudo-leech, and from Dr. Nordmann’s figures seems able, like 
it, to change its form. Underneath the body, at the anterior eX- 
tremity, is the mouth, and in the middle are what he denomin- 
_ ates two sucking-cups; these are prominent, and viewed laterally 
form a truneated cone; the anterior one is the smallest and least 
prominent, and more properly a sucker; the other probably has 
other functions, since he could never ascertain that it was used 
for prehension.” — 
tis remarkable that these animals, small as they are,. are in- 
ted with parasites of their own. . 'These appear like minute 
ts or capsules, attached to the intestinal canal. When 
extracted and laid upon a smooth surface, these capsules burst, 
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