796 PAEASITIC DISEASES. 



sometimes suffer severely from worms in tlie nose, tlie parasites 

 giving rise to nasal catarrh, accompanied by foetid discharges. 

 There is one remarkable case on record, in which death was 

 occasioned by pentastomes. This is the instance already men- 

 tioned as having been made public by Professor Dick in the 

 pages of the Veterinarian for 1840. The communication is 

 most interesting and instructive. Three of these parasites 

 having wandered into the fauces and trachea of the dog, 

 its death resulted, partly from spasm of the laryngeal muscles, 

 and partly from inflammation of tlie left lung, accompanied 

 by excessive bronchial secretion. In short, the animal was 

 suffocated. 



ASCAKIDES AND LUMBRICI. 



The Ascaris megaloeephala of the horse and Ascaris suilla of 

 the hog are considered by some helminthologists to be identical 

 with the Ascaris lumhricoides of man. Dr. Cobbold and others 

 take exception to this conclusion, and consider that they are 

 distinct species. 



These worms, best known amongst veterinarians as the Inm- 

 hrici, resemble the common earth-worm in size and shape ; the 

 males are shorter than the females, wliich sometimes measure 

 from twelve to sixteen inches in length. They are found in the 

 small intestines ; sometimes, but rarely, in the stomach. If few 

 in number, they occasion no inconvenience to the bearer ; but 

 if numerous, and particularly if they infest the stomach, they, like 

 bots, may cause colic, indigestion, unthriftiness, and emaciation. 

 After the death of the bearer, several of them are generally 

 found matted together, and coiled up in the form of a ball, 

 leading one to conclude that they have thus caused an obstruc- 

 tion during life. Numerous observations in the dissecting room 

 enable me to state that they assume tliis form after the death 

 of the host ; that they congregate together, interlace one with 

 the other, very shortly after the animal which they infest 

 has died. 



In the dog, round-worms — Ascaris marginata — especially if 

 they enter the stomach, cause convulsive lits, vomiting, and 

 sometimes death. 



Oxyuris curvula, or better known to veterinarians as ascarides, 



