624 Microscopic Organisms in Blood of Man and Animals. [part hi. 



It is not uncommon, for example, to find the blood-corpuscles of hirds forming a 

 portion of the contents of the mosquito's stomach, and I have on several occasions ob- 

 served extremely small embryo-nematodes associated with such corpuscles. Some of 

 these are represented in the wood-cut on previous page (Fig. 62). If these helminths be 

 compared with the figure given of the heematozoon of the crow (Fig. 59, page 613), they 

 will be found to bear a close resemblance to it. It is very possible that these embryos 

 may not have been derived from the crow, but there can be but little doubt, judging from 

 the character of the red blood-corpuscles, that they had been derived from some bird. 

 Facts of this kind also tend to add to the difficulty of ascertaining precisely the various 

 developmental processes which any particular species of haematozoon undergo. 



E.— The Mature form of Filaria sanguinis-liominis. 



A letter appeared in The, Lancet of 14th July, 1877, from Dr. Cobbold, announcing 

 the discovery by Dr. Bancroft, of Brisbane, Australia, of what were believed to be 

 cimens of the mature Filaria sanguinis. They had been found on two occasions : 

 on the first, a dead specimen was found in a lymphatic abscess of the arm ; and the 

 second time four living specimens were obtained whilst tapping a hydrocele of the 

 spermatic cord. Regarding these Dr. Bancroft had written the following description : 

 "The worm is about the thickness of a human hair, and is from 3 to 4 inches long. 

 By two loops from the centre of the body it emits the filarise described by Carter in 

 immense numbers." 



During the last six years I have taken considerable interest in questions of this 

 nature, and have, through the kindness of professional friends in India, had frequent 

 opportunities of searching for the parental form of the Filaria sanguinis-hoTYiinis, but 

 only succeeded in obtaining it on one occasion. This was a little more than a year 

 ago— 7th August, 1877. Descriptions of the specimens were published at the time,* 

 but, in a paper dealing with the organisms of the blood, a brief account of these par- 

 ticulars should find a place. 



For the opportunity of examining the particular case in which the filarife were 

 found, I am indebted to the kindness of the late Dr. Grayer. The patient was a young 

 .Bengalee affected with well-marked nsevoid elephantiasis of the scrotum, associated with 

 the presence of embryo-filarise in the blood. The tumor and the sanguineous exudation 

 which escaped on its removal were collected, and submitted to careful examination , and 

 after a continuous search of eight hours, the long-sought-for helminth was eventually 

 obtained. The specimens were, however, so greatly mangled by the needles used in 

 teasing a clot under a dissecting microscope, that the description of the parental forms 

 cannot at present be so complete as desired. 



The specimens consisted of portions of two worms, male and female (Plate XLII, 

 Figs. 1 to 4) ; the former, however, had unfortunately been torn across at two places, and 

 the terminal ends could not be discovered. Both specimens manifested very livelv 



* Indian Medical Gazette, let September, 1877; The La?ieet, 29th September, 1877, page 458; Centralblatt 

 fur die medioinische WisaenscJiu/ten, No. 43, 1877, page 770. 



