CETACEA 421 



ovary. The vitelligene glands are largely developed. In the 

 year 1858 Van Beneden described a large fluke from the pike- 

 whale (Baltenoptera rostrata). The specimens were from Es- 

 chricht's collection and had been removed from the liver. As 

 some of the examples measured no less than 80 millimetres, 

 Van Beneden described them as " the largest known distomes." 

 This is probably correct, but the great human fluke (D. crassum) 

 reaches 2|", and the giraffe' s fluke (Fasciola gigantea) 3 inches 

 in length. The curator of the Australian Museum, at Sydney, 

 Mr Gerard Krefft, mentions a Distoma which himself and Mr 

 George Masters obtained from Delphinus Forsteri. Not impro- 

 bably it represents a new species. Of the single-suckered 

 flukes, Creplin in 1825 obtained Monostoma plicatum from the 

 intestines and oesophagus of a northern whale. This cetacean 

 was obtained on the coast of the island of Rugen, in the Baltic. 

 It has been variously spoken of as Balcena borealis or B. ros- 

 trata, but by Van Beneden this cetacean is called Balanop- 

 tera musculus. The flukes exceeded J" in length. Another 

 species of monostome (M. delphini) was vaguely indicated by 

 Blainville as occupying the cutaneous follicles of Delphinus 

 Dalei, which cetacean is a synonym of Micropteron sowerbiensis. 

 The same worm is supposed by Van Beneden to infest the 

 bottle-head (Hyperoodon butzkopf), and perhaps it was the same 

 or a similar worm which Poelman found in the flesh of Lage- 

 norhynchus Eschrichti. By naturalists imperfectly acquainted 

 with helminths, the monostomes are apt to be confounded with 

 Cysticerci ; nevertheless, these widely different types may 

 coexist in the same host. The presence of larval cestodes has 

 been indicated in various whales. Thus, F. Cuvier and Van 

 Beneden state that Surgeon-Major Carnot, in 1822, found an 

 enormous quantity of small hydatids in the nasal sinuses of a 

 porpoise (Plioc&na compressicaudata). These are supposed to 

 be Cysticerci. In like manner Mr F. D. Bennett, in 1837, 

 obtained numerous capsuled Cysticerci from the skin and 

 blubber of Catodon (Physeter) macrocephalus. It is unfortunate 

 that so few of the cetacean helminths find their way into the 

 hands of persons competent to decide upon their true character. 

 Mr Bennett's " find " was originally stated to have been 

 made in Baltena mysticetus, but Van Beneden refers it to the 

 northern sperm-whale or blunt-headed cachalot. The naturalist 

 Bosc noticed a larval cestode found in the fatty tissues surround- 

 ing the reproductive organs of Delphinus delphis. He called it 



