814 PARASITIC DISEASES. 



"Body spindle-shaped, more narrowed posteriorly than in front; 

 head truncate, with circular mouth, cup-shaped buccal cavity, and 

 muscular oesophagus ; tail of the male drawn out to a long fine point, 

 that of the female being abruptly pointed ; reproductive papilla of the 

 female situated at the lower part of the upper third of the body. 



"Size. — Males, J^- to -J of an inch in length, by jl^ to y^ in 

 breadth ; the females averaging y*^ of an inch in length by ^^ in 

 breadth." 



The opinion tliat this was a new species of nematode was 

 found to be a mistake, as even Cobbold had referred to it in 

 1873, and Klichenmeister in 1857. 



Symptoms. — In the pony under observation in 1873 diarrhoea 

 was absent tlironghout. Mr. Justus Littler, who was then a 

 student witli me, was able, however, to see some points of re- 

 semblance in the symptoms to those described by his father in 

 the letter to Mr. Varnell, above mentioned. In the lot observed 

 in 1874, diarrhcea of a foetid character, along with a more or less 

 rapid emaciation, was present in all the cases, and 1 conclude 

 that, in conjunction with the ages of the affected animals, 

 diarrhcea and emaciation may be considered as diagnostic symp- 

 toms. Four of the 1874 lot were so reduced as to be unable to 

 stand ; they were recumbent, very quiet, with pallid mucous 

 membranes ; the appetite was, however, good. The question 

 again arises, Was the diarrhoea due to the presence of the larger 

 worms in the intestinal canal ? and one is led to conclude that, 

 from the fact that none were discovered in the first case, this 

 symptom arose from this cause, and that so long as the parasites 

 were passive in the intestinal w^alls they did not cause superaction 

 of the bowels, but as they became matured and burst through 

 the tissue surrounding them, they irritated the intestines and 

 caused purgation. In addition to the dark spots on the mucous 

 membrane of the colon, delineated in the woodcut, the intestinal 

 glands were, in all the cases examined, more or less enlarged, 

 many of them containing pus and what appeared to be the 

 debris of the parasites. In every instance the dark spots, which 

 in reality indicated the seat of the worms, were confined to the 

 colon. An experiment was made with the flesh of the first 

 pony upon some fowls, and, as stated by me in my letter to Dr. 

 Cobbold, two of them died, with the livers and other viscera 

 filled with parasitic ova and embryos. 



