SOLTDUNGULA 377 



its ecdysis, a portion of the old skin still remaining attached to 

 the tail. 



As already remarked, the evidence respecting the frequency 

 and destructiveness of this little worm in England is now quite 

 overwhelming. In a series of papers contributed to the e Vete- 

 rinarian ' (too long for full quotation here), I have endea- 

 voured to do justice to the " finds " and observations of those 

 members of the veterinary profession who were good enough to 

 supply me with valuable notes and communications. In parti- 

 cular must my indebtedness to Mr Rees Lloyd be acknowledged, 

 for, as previously observed, he it was who first recognised the 

 parasitic character of the Welsh epizootic outbreaks. In the 

 Deangunid and Talybont districts these strongyles proved 

 terribly fatal to mountain ponies. It appears that the owners 

 of the animals, as soon as they perceived anything amiss, 

 at once disposed of them by sale, evidently anticipating fatal 

 results sooner or later. The facts connected with some of the 

 isolated cases brought under Mr Lloyd's care are especially 

 interesting, as showing the virulence of the symptoms set up. 

 Thus on the 9th of Feb., 1875, some time after I had identified 

 the species from specimens he had sent me, Mr Lloyd writes 

 as follows : " The last case I had was one which had been 

 sold in this way, and which had suffered now and then from 

 colicky pains for the space of about two months. The animal 

 had been drenched with febrifuges and rubbed with stimulating 

 liniments about the throat. However, I was sent for one 

 evening, about an hour before the patient's death. I soon 

 diagnosed the case as parasitic, and at the same time considered 

 it to be a hopeless one. I remained with it the whole of the 

 time, of which about forty- five minutes of the most acute 

 pain was borne by the trembling beast, which was leaping, 

 rolling, and tossing itself about with astonishing rapidity. 

 The bulging eyes, gnashing teeth, foaming mouth, and sharp 

 peculiar hoarseness, were pitiable to behold; when suddenly all 

 was silent, he quietly rose to his feet, and nipped the grass as 

 if nought had troubled him. I then trotted him quietly up 

 a few yards of rising ground in the corner of the field, when 

 he immediately got down to rise no more. The next day I 

 examined him, and found myriads of the four-spined strongyles, 

 a large number being encysted." Mr Rees Lloyd's account of 

 this case is so graphic that I have reproduced it without 

 abridgment. Speaking of another patient, a mare, he says, 



