124 THIRTIETH REPORT ON THE STATE MUSEUM. [12] 



found in an apple. They consisted of one entire individual 

 and the anterior half of a second, and apparently pertain to 

 the Mermis acumiryata, a long thread-worm which has been 

 discovered infesting the larvae of many insects. Among 

 others, it is parasitic in the larvse of the fruit-moth of the 

 apple, which readily accounts for its presence in the fruit. 

 Twenty-five years ago (Proc. 1850, p. 117) he had described 

 a worm, belonging to the collection of the Academy, and 

 labeled as having been obtained from a child's mouth, 

 which was evidently the same species. It having been in a 

 child's mouth is probably to be explained by supposing that 

 the child had eaten an infected apple. 



The characters of the present specimens of the worm, both 

 females, are as follows : Body filiform, pale fuscous, nar- 

 rower anteriorly. Head conical, truncate, with the mouth sim- 

 ple and unarmed. Caudal extremity thicker than the head, 

 obtusely rounded, and furnished with a minute spur-like pro- 

 cess. Length, five inches eight lines ; cephalic end at mouth 

 -iV mm. ; a short distance below \ mm. ; middle of body f mm. ; 

 near caudal end \ mm. ; mucro ^ mm. long, -^ mm. thick. 



We transcribe for comparison the description of the exam- 

 ple obtained from a child' s mouth, to which reference is made 

 above, together with the accompanying interesting remarks, 

 which show the apprehension entertained by Dr. Leidy, at 

 that time, at least, of serious results which might follow the 

 introduction into the human system through the mouth, of the 



Mermis and allied species of Entozoa. 



i 



Filaria Jiominis oris. Body white, opaque, linear, thread- 

 like ; mouth round, simple, posterior extremity obtuse, fur- 

 nished with a short, curved, epidermal hooklet -g^- inch in 

 length, by ^nnr inch in diameter at base. Length, five inches 

 seven lines, greatest breadth -^ inch ; breadth at mouth ^J- - 

 inch ; at posterior extremity -$ inch. 



Remarks. The description is taken from a single specimen 

 preserved in alcohol, in the collection of the Academy, labeled 

 " obtained from the mouth of a child." 



Is it a young individual, or perhaps a male of the Filaria 

 Mendinensis, or Guinea-worm ? The latter, as is well known, 

 infests the human body, often growing to an enormous length, 

 several yards or more, in the inter-tropics of Asia and Africa. 

 It is frequently brought in the body of negro slaves from 

 Africa to America, where no entozoon of the kind has ever 

 been noticed to be parasitic in man, as an indigenous produc- 

 tion. From some late observations on the course of life of 

 entozoa, helminthologists have been led to suspect that most 

 and probably all entozoa pass different stages of their exist- 

 ence in different animals. If such be the fact, may not the 



