223] PROTEOCEPHALIDAE—LA RUE 22Z 



that T. colubri was collected by Natterer in Brazil from Ophiomorphus 

 poecilogyrus. He gave no descriptive data and nothing that would be 

 of assistance in placing Rudolphi's species. Diesing's (1850) diagnosis 

 of Taenia racemosa Rud, does not agree with Rudolphi's description of 

 that species. His statements in regard to the tetragonal head, the ter- 

 minal or subterminal angular suckers which are subovate or cordate 

 fits the diagnosis of Crepidobothrium gerrardii but not that of Ophio- 

 taenia racemosa. The latter species has orbicular suckers. Likewise 

 Diesing's statements that there is no neck, that the first proglottids are 

 very short, following ones larger and broader, with rounded angles, the 

 last proglottids long parallelopipeds and somewhat narrow agree much 

 better with the descriptions of C. gerrardii than with that of 0. race- 

 mosa. Diesing's form was considerably larger than Rudolphi's. No 

 completely protruded cirrus was noted in the writer's material of C. 

 gerrardii hence the cirri of the two forms cannot be compared. More- 

 over, Diesing lists Eunectes scytale as a host of Taenia racemosa. Eunec- 

 tes scytale is a synonym of Eunectes murinus, a species in which C. 

 gerrardii, but no other Proteocephalid, has been found. It seems prob- 

 able therefore that Diesing's diagnosis of Taenia racemosa was based on 

 the material from Eunectes murinus (scytale). 



A further analysis of Diesing's list of hosts of Taenia racemosa 

 shows that besides the Boidae, represented by Eunectes murinus, the 

 Colubridae are represented by two species and the Viperidae by one 

 species. From this evidence it seems probable that Diesing's Taenia 

 racemosa must have included several species, for among the species of 

 Ophiotaenia from snakes which have been adequately described in recent 

 years no species has been found in hosts belonging to different families. 

 A list of these species, their hosts, and their distribution is found else- 

 where. Another fact to be remarked about these Proteocephalid species 

 from snakes is that the individuals which infest the Boidae are larger 

 than the individuals of the species which infest the Viperidae and 

 these in turn are larger than those that infest the Colubridae. By the 

 term size the writer means size of head, size of suckers, breadth of neck, 

 breadth and length of proglottids and length of strobila. In certain 

 of these characters the writer's general statement fails but, considered 

 in a broad way, it is true. This is an additional reason for supposing 

 that Diesing included several species under the one name Taenia 

 racemosa. 



Concerning hosts of Taenia racemosa Schwarz (1908:28) says: 

 "Als Wirte werden angegeben: Ophiomorphus miliaris, Ophis Merre- 

 mii, Bothrops jararacca (for mararacca) und Eunectes scytale, Schlan- 

 gen, die in Brazilien vorkommen". This seems to be but a restatement 



