NEMATODA 189 



supplied by Bancroft appeared in the ' Lancet/ Oct. 6th, 1877, 

 the facts being stated as follows : 



On the 28th of August, 1877, I received a small collection of 

 entozoa. The box contained the promised Filariae, and also 

 eight bottles filled with various intestinal worms taken from 

 animals. The Filariae were enclosed in four small tubes and 

 preserved in glycerine. Three of the tubes (marked 1, 2, 3) 

 contained sexually-mature worms, the fourth being labelled 

 " Sediment from adult Fil. sang. young and ova." I described 

 their contents in succession. Thus, on the 6th of September, 1877, 

 I examined the Filaria in tube No. 3. The specimen was injured 

 and in four portions, these collectively measuring three inches 

 in length. Although, to the naked eye, the worm had appeared 

 to Dr Bancroft to be of the thickness of an ordinary human hair, 

 yet I found it about ^" at the thickest part. It was a female. 

 At the same time I examined the specimen in tube No. 1. This 

 was also a female. Towards the centre of the body a hernial 

 protrusion of the uterine horns and intestine had taken place. 

 In a lithograph sent by Dr Bancroft this specimen was figured 

 and described as the ' ' parent worm of the Filaria sanguinis, 

 emitting young Filaria from two loops." Later on I examined 

 the contents of tube No. 2. In it I found one tolerably perfect 

 female Filaria, and also a delicate shred forming part of one of 

 the uterine horns of another worm. This filament measured 

 one inch and a half in length, and was coiled round the com- 

 plete worm. On transferring it to a watch-glass containing 

 water, hundreds of embryos made their escape. Owing to the 

 transparency of the tissues I had much difficulty in finding the 

 reproductive outlet, and the effort to find it was all the greater 

 because Bancroft's figure had misled me. At length I found 

 the vagina and its orifice close to the head (about " from it), 

 the anal orifice being placed within the ~" from the extremity 

 of the tail. The vaginal pouch, T J/' long, was crowded with 

 embryos, and a constriction marked its junction with the uterus 

 proper, which appeared to divide lower down at a distance 

 of yL" from the head. Towards the tail a fold of the tuba 

 Fallopii was seen to extend to within i" of the extremity. All 

 sections of the uterine system were crowded with germs, eggs, 

 and embryos in their usual relative situations. 



My examinations of the ova and embryos were chiefly made 

 from the (( sediment " sent in a special glass tube. The fully 

 formed embryos were jjj" in length by 5" in breadth. They 



