SOLIDUNGULA 357 



In France it was originally found in the horse by Daubenton. 

 As I learn from Sonsino, Dr. Abbate Bey recently recorded a 

 similar find at Cairo. In solipeds generally the liver fluke 

 appears to be almost harmless, for, notwithstanding the fright- 

 ful ravages produced by rot amongst a variety of animals 

 besides sheep, we have no evidence of the destruction of horses 

 from this cause. In the German outbreak of 1663-65 multi- 

 tudes of cattle and deer perished, and in the French outbreak 

 of 1829-30 five thousand horned beasts succumbed in the 

 arrondissement of Montmedy alone. In neither of these 

 epizootics were the solipeds affected. More importance attaches 

 itself to the study of the amphistomatoid flukes. These 

 parasites, though in a scientific sense only recently discovered 

 in equine bearers, have been long known to the natives of 

 India. Thev appear to be capable of producing serious intes- 

 tinal irritation. I have described two forms (Amphistoma 

 Gollinsii and A. Coll., var. Stanley i), which infest the colon. 

 The specimens sent to Prof. Simonds from India by Mr Stanley, 

 Y.S., were much larger than those sent to me from Simla by 

 Mr Collins, Y.S., some ten years later (1875). As in all other 

 amphistomes obtained from the intestines of elephants and 

 cattle, the worms, when fresh, were of a bright brick-red color. 

 By the natives of India these parasites are called Masuri ; 

 but no description of the worms had been published prior to 

 the account which I gave of the contributions forwarded by 

 Major- General Hawkes, Mr Collins, and Mr Stanley. 



I shall have occasion to speak of the elephant's Masuri 

 farther on ; but in the meantime I must remark that the 

 generally received notion as to the parasitic cause of the earth- 

 eating propensities of various animals seems to have some 

 foundation in fact. Not alone from Major-General Hawkes in 

 Madras, from Mr Folkard in Ceylon, and from various other 

 trustworthy sources, have I been informed of this habit on the 

 part of Indian horses, but Dr Howe told me that Australian 

 horses, and even sheep, infested with stomach- worms, are in the 

 constant habit of consuming large quantities of sand. From 

 all the facts that have come before me, I am inclined to think 

 that gastric or intestinal irritation, however brought about, 

 may induce the habit in question, parasites being only one of 

 the many sources of irritation giving rise to symptoms of colic 

 in solipeds and pachyderms alike. At all events the African 

 elephants at the London Zoological Society's Managerie, as 



