396 PARASITES OF ANIMALS 



Hawkes, stating that the flukes were clearly referable to Fasciola 

 Jacksoni ; that the parasites to which the natives of Hindostan 

 apply the term " soorti " were evidently examples of Ascaris 

 lonchoptera (Diesing), previously called strongyles by Kudolphi ; 

 and that the worms which he called " masuri " were trematodes 

 new to science. I named the species Amphistoma Hawkesii, in 

 honor of the donor. The bottle contained as many as forty-nine 

 specimens. I may here remark that I have made inquiries of 

 the keepers of the elephants at the Zoological Gardens as to 

 whether they have ever seen entozoa that were passed by the 

 animals under their care. They replied in the negative, the 

 keeper of the African elephants (Scott) having made frequent 

 inspection of the fseces. I was the more anxious to secure 

 information on this point since, during my frequent visits to the 

 menagerie, I had observed that the African elephants were in 

 the habit of swallowing large quantities of mud and dirt from 

 small hollows in the ground near the great water-tanks in which 

 they bathe. Prof. Garrod (who had dissected three elephants) 

 also assures me that there has been no trace of an entozoon in 

 any of the Indian elephants examined by him. In one dissected 

 at Edinburgh the same negative result was obtained. From 

 the facts at present in my possession, I conclude that the habit 

 of earth-eating, displayed alike by Indian and African elephants 

 (and, as stated in my account of the equine parasites, shared by 

 horses), is not necessarily due to the presence of parasites. I 

 apprehend rather, that it is resorted to by these animals under 

 any circumstances of intestinal irritation, whether created by 

 entozoa or other foreign agents. The notion of the elephant's 

 intelligent self -cure by eating earth is a very old fable. Captain 

 Forsyth, as quoted by Mr Fleming, alludes to it in his ' High- 

 lands of Central India/ and I find the same ideas recorded 

 by Williamson and Howitt. Forsyth says : " Elephants are 

 very liable to intestinal worms. They generally cure themselves 

 by swallowing from ten to twenty pounds of earth." Captain 

 Williamson says : " They are much troubled with worms, for 

 the cure of which the elephant eats earth. If the dung be 

 inspected there will be seen an amazing number of moving 

 objects, which much resemble pieces of chewed sugar-cane." 

 Some excellent practical remarks are added, testifying to the 

 value of the native remedy called Kallah-nimok, or bit-noben, 

 which is a saline purgative. In Lieut. Ouchterlony's essay 

 (quoted below) no allusion is made to the subject of worms. 



