PART III.] 



Helminthic Nematoids in Blood of Birds. 



613 



This observer likewise, on two occasions, found nematoid worms in the blood of a 

 carp (Cyprinus tinea). They were ^%'^%-^ of a Vienna inch in length and -0001 in 

 width.* 



It has long been known that the blood of many birds is infested to an ex- 

 traordinary extent with the embryos of nematoid helminths. The first record of 

 them is by Schmidt, who appears to have discovered them in 1826. t They have since 

 been frequently described ; and, according to Virchow,J they have also been found by 

 Herbst in the blood of hawks, jackdaws, jays, etc. Borell§ writes regarding a con- 

 dition which he describes as " Trichiniasis of the Crow." The parasites found were 

 •13mm. in length by '004 in width, but as they appear to have, for the most part, 

 only been found in the blood vessels, the term " trichiniasis " is scarcely applicable ; 

 moreover, the worm is manifestly not a trichina. It is worthy of 

 special note that specimens of precisely the same size as those in 

 the blood were also found in the aqueous humor and in the corpus 

 vitreum of one eye. Sonsino || has likewise often found them in the 

 crow in Egypt, and states that they are | of a millimeter in length. 

 One of the crows in which he found these embryos contained three 

 examples of Filaria attenuata in its ventral cavity. Ecker suggests 

 a genetic connection between the latter and the former ; 1^ and 

 lieuckart, in his standard work on the Parasites of Man, appears to 

 coincide in this view.** 



I have examined a considerable number of the ordinary Indian 

 crow (Corvus splendens), and have found that the blood of nearly 

 half of those which have come under my notice have contained 

 embryo hsematozoa of this character. Sometimes they are in such 

 numbers as to make it a matter of surprise how it is possible that 

 any animal can survive with so many thousands of such active organisms distributed 

 throughout every tissue of its body. The birds did not appear to be affected in the 

 slightest degree by their presence. In their movements they are very similar to the 

 nematoid embryos found in man ; they are, however, considerably smaller, and manifest 

 no trace of an enveloping sheath (Fig, 59). Those measured by me were found to be 

 •09 mm. in length by ^004 in width, which is, roughly, more than one-third the length 

 and one-half the width of the embryo of Filaria sanguinis- hominis, to be subsequently 

 referred to. 



Fig. 59 . X 500. 

 Filaria from the 



blood of the Indian 



crow. 



* Wedl cited by Carus, loc. cit. 



f Gervais and Van Beneden : " Zoologie Medicale : " 1859 ; quoted by Sonsino, op. cit. 



J Virchow's Archiv, vol. Ixv, 1875, p. 400. 



§ Idem, page 399. 



II Op. cit. 



^ Diesing's " Systema Helminthum," vol. xi, pp. 266-7, 1851. 



•* "Die menschlichen Parasiten," Band I, p. 52 ; Band II, p. 614 ; Leipzig, 1876. 



