138 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



of a capuchin monkey, others having been found by him in the 

 thorax of an orang-utan. The distinguishing features of this 

 nematode are its extreme length and nearly uniform thickness 

 throughout, only slightly attenuated at the cephalic end, the caudal 

 extremity, however, gradually tapering for about an inch, ter- 

 minating in a fine point. 



Female longer than the male, 7 to 14 inches for the female. 

 All the males which I examined were under 6y 2 inches. A single 

 female has been reported over 20 inches in length. The tail, as 

 shown in the accompanying cut, is furnished near its extremity 

 with three conical papillae. The actual extremity of the tail has 

 an exceedingly minute prominence, with a centrally placed duct. 



Filaria immitis (Leidy). — The cruel threadworm of the Chi- 

 nese has been found among our animals in a number of instances 

 (•sea-lions and wolf). While this Filaria is commonly found in 

 man and dogs in China, and the East generally, it is not, however, 

 unknown in America and Europe. It occasionally occurs in such 

 large numbers in the right side of the heart and pulmonary artery 

 of the dog that it is difficult to see how the circulation can pro- 

 ceed. 



The Filaria immitis does not often betray its presence by any 

 distinct recognizable systems during the lifetime of the infected 

 animal ; though its existence may be predicted on finding embryos 

 on a microscopical examination of the blood. In the majority of 

 instances the worms are found at the autopsy of animals which 

 have died after various morbid manifestations. 



Death is usually sudden, or has only been preceded for an hour 

 or two by dyspnoea and convulsions. Frequently the animal has 

 exhibited for a variable number of days dullness, debility, local 

 dropsies, and more or less frequent attacks of convulsions or epi- 

 leptiform seizures. The immediate host of this parasite is still 

 obscure, but from the prevalence of the disease appearing in coun- 

 tries particularly rich in marshes and surface-water, the host 

 might therefore be supposed to be some aquatic animal. 



It is interesting to note in this connection the occurrence of the 

 parasite in our California sea-lions, that live exclusively on fish. 

 The female worms are usually more numerous and of greater 

 length than the males. Of the fourteen filariae found in the right 

 ventricle of a sea-lion, only three were males. 



Several of the worms which I examined microscopically con- 

 tained an enormous number of ova, enclosing embryos in various 

 stages of development. Manson noted a habit of these embryos 

 of abounding in the superficial blood vessels during the night and 



