EODENTIA 319 



therefore seems to ine, without prejudice to the recent experi- 

 ences of De Sylvestre and others, that further experiments in 

 this immediate connection are .unnecessary. As regards the 

 nematodes of leporine rodents, probably the most important is 

 Strongylus commutatus. This parasite, like its husk-produc- 

 ing congeners, infesting calves and lambs, occasionally sweeps 

 off great numbers of hares. Such an epizooty occurred in 

 Thuringia in 1864. The most frequent intestinal parasite of 

 rodents is probably Oxyuris ambigua, but Strong, retortaformis is 

 tolerably abundant in the hare, and Trichocephalus unguiculatus 

 is liable to occur in all leporines. I know nothing of the so-called 

 Strong, strigosus of rabbits, but Bellingham found it in Ireland. 

 Olfers and Natterer obtained a small ascaris (A. veligera) from 

 Lepus braziliensis ; but I cannot help thinking that the large 

 measle (Cysticercus macrocystis) described by Diesing as three 

 inches in length, and obtained from the same rodent, must 

 either have been Coenurus cuniculi or else another form of poly- 

 cephalous hydatid. 



In reference to the ectozoa of rodents it may be said that 

 they are very numerous. Acari infest rats and mice, and espe- 

 cially leporines. Thus, in the mouse are found Sarcoptes 

 notoedre, Bourguignon, var. muris, Megnin, Sarc. musculinuSj 

 Koch, and Myobia musculi, Claparede. It is not very gene- 

 rally known that wild rabbits are apt to be attacked by the 

 common autumnal spider (Leptus autumnalis) , whence, as once 

 happened with myself, they may be transferred to the human 

 body. The ears of tame rabbits are sometimes covered with 

 acari, which are easily destroyed by the cautious application of a 

 mixture of carbolic acid and olive oil (one of acid to six of the 

 oil). Kodents also harbor fleas. At a meeting of the Ento- 

 mological Society in 1875 Mr Vernall showed living specimens 

 from the ears of a rabbit, and Messrs Cole and W. A, Lewis 

 stated that they had obtained fleas from the hedgehog and 

 European marmot respectively. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY (No. 47). Beneden (see Van Beneden below). 

 Capelle, /., Extr. from a letter, in which the author states that he 

 had " found worms of the tgenia kind in the liver of sixteen out 

 of eighteen rats," ' Med. Commentaries/ vol. xix, p. 139, 1794; 

 see also ' Trans. Coll. Phys. of Philad./ vol. i, part ii, p. 60, 

 1793. Chapman, H. C., " Echinorhynchus in Squirrel/' ' Proc. 

 Acad. Philad./ 1874, p. IQ.ColMd, " Note on Ccenurus (from 

 a squirrel)/' ' Proc. Linn. Soc./ May 5, 1864. Idem," On the 



