THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATUKAL HISTOEY. 



[FIFTH SERIES.] 

 No. 36. DECEMBER 1880. 



LII. — On the Anatomy of a new Parasitic Worm found in 

 the Intestine of a Bat (Megaderma frons). By Dr. John 

 Denis Macdonald, F.R.S., Inspector-General R.N. 



[Plate XXL] 



In no. 573, vol. xxii., of ' Nature ' my friend and colleague 

 Surgeon-Major G.E. Dobson, M.A., F.L.S., announced his 

 discovery of a new and interesting parasitic worm, with all the 

 prima facie appearance of an Annelidan, in the intestine of 

 the above-named Bat. The notice contains a good general 

 account of the little worm, with an intimation that he had 

 passed it over to me for further examination. He thus 

 describes it in one paragraph : — u The specimen in question 

 is about half an inch in length, without distinct segmenta- 

 tion, except what is indicated by the perfectly regular disposi- 

 tion of the cephalo-somatic appendages — seventy-three pairs, 

 extending from the anterior almost to the posterior extremity 

 of the body — whereof those occupying the anterior attenuated 

 fourth of the body are fin-like lamellae, apparently branchial, 

 with a simple unarmed mouth not provided with a proboscis, 

 with the intestine spirally coiled round the ovarian tube and 

 terminating inferiorly at the posterior extremity of the body." 

 This description, though short, has left me very little to say 

 in relation to the leading features of the anatomy of the worm. 

 I Avould offer, however, a few remarks as to its probable posi- 

 Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 5. Vol. vi. 29 



