FASCIOLA HEPATICA VAR. ANGUSTA .. 157 



(Senegal), and which are distinguished from the European liver 

 fluke by their more elongated shape, lesser breadth (in their con- 

 tracted state 26-^38 mm. in length, 6 8 mm. in breadth), short 

 anterior cone, larger ventral sucker and larger eggs (0*143 0*151 

 mm. in length, 0*082 0*088 in breadth, average size 0*147:0*082 

 mm.). 



An analogous form from the bile ducts of slaughtered 

 animals of Egypt (buffaloes, oxen, sheep and goats) has been 

 described by Looss l as var. cegyptiaca, and later, like Railliet's 

 variety, was declared to be an independent species (Fasciola angusta, 

 Fasc. cegyptiaca).' 2 



As now the ordinary hepatic fluke (Fasciola hepatica, L.) is 

 known to invade man, this may likewise be the case in analogous 

 forms, which would then probably develop in a similar manner. 



As a matter of fact, an observation exists that confirms this 

 supposition. A medical man, H. de Gouvea, 3 observed a French 

 naval officer in Rio de Janeiro who was suffering from fever, 

 cough and slight haemoptysis ; the lungs appeared to be intact 

 except for a sharply circumscribed spot at the base of the left 

 lung ; twenty days later the patient, during an attack of coughing 

 associated with haemoptysis, expectorated a fluke 25 mm. in 

 length, which was distinguished by its slender form and the size 

 of its ventral sucker, which was situated close to the oral sucker. 

 The author himself called attention to the resemblance of the 

 worm to the flukes which inhabit the liver of Egyptian buffaloes. 



Taking into consideration the fact that de 'Gouvea's patient had 

 made a stay of several weeks in Dakar (Senegambia) during July 

 of the same year, where Fasciola hepatica var. angusta occurs 

 amongst cattle, and considering also the peculiarities of the worm 

 observed by de Gouvea, Railliet (I.e.) is inclined to regard the two 

 forms as identical, and no objection to this opinion can be advanced. 



But in 1856 Cobbold described a species found in the liver 

 of the giraffe which he named Fasciola gigantica, and which 

 attained a length of 75 mm. and a breadth of from 4 12 mm. 

 It is nearly related to Looss' and Railliet's varieties, which are 

 hardly distinguishable one from the other ; it is likewise very 

 long and narrow, the lateral borders of the posterior part of the 



1 Looss, A., " Reck, faune par. de I' Eg." (Mem. Inst. egypt., 1896, iii., p. 33). 



- Looss, A., " Obs. a prop, d'une note . . . ." (C. f. B., P. u. L, 1898 [i], xxiii., 

 p. 459). 



3 Gouvea, H. de, La distomatose pulm. par la douve du foie These (Paris, 1895). 



