NEMATODA 183 



urine to stand for forty-eight hours, I found, on the 27th of 

 July, that the shells of the ripe ova had 

 dissolved, leaving the embryos dead, but 

 still coiled within a fine transparent en- 

 velope. In this state they were easily 

 separated and examined, when they gave 

 a measurement of " in length, by $" 

 in breadth. On two occasions, whilst 

 engaged in rearing the larvae of Bil- 

 harzia in water, I noticed single speci- 

 mens of these embryos lying dead; 

 and one of the examples thus ob- FlG 38 _ Group of effgs and 

 served gave a length of J/, by ^ 5 " in S^^T^^*' 

 breadth." 



Knowing what errors of interpretation have often crept into 

 helminthological literature I was more than usually cautious in 

 pronouncing upon the source of these urinary parasites. Ac- 

 cordingly, I remarked that " future discoveries might enable us 

 to identify the species of nematode to which these ova are 

 referable." I also added : " Notwithstanding discrepancies as 

 to size, I am inclined to think that Dr Salisbury and myself 

 have been made acquainted with nematode eggs and embryos 

 referable to one and the same species of parasite. I do not 

 care to speculate as to the origin of these ova. Long ago I 

 gave in my adhesion to the determinations of Schneider in 

 respect of the so-called Spiroptera hominis, but I am by no 

 means certain that his position may not be disturbed by fresh 

 discoveries. It is not a little remarkable that the parents of my 

 patient should have averred that she passed three small vermiform 

 entozoa by the urethra, corresponding, to judge from their 

 verbal statements, very closely with the ordinary appearances of 

 Filaria piscium." 



Having written thus much seven years back, it is with natural 

 pleasure that I find my anticipations already verified. Knowing 

 that I was dealing with parasites in their earliest larval stages, 

 it never occurred to me to give a specific name to them, and I 

 could not possibly approve of Dr Salisbury's nomenclature, for 

 which there was no good ground. 



In the original discovery Dr 0. Wucherer procured the worms 

 from the chylous urine of a female in the Misericordia Hospital 

 at Bahia ; and on the 9th of the following October, 1866, he 

 obtained similar worms from another female suffering from 



