Mr. Brightwell on Filarial and Insects. 399 



is blunter than tlie head, and of the same colour as the rest of the body. 

 The oviform bodies lie in conglomerated little masses in the middle part 

 of the canal, but in the other parts assume nearly the form of a string of 

 beads. On subjecting a small section of this to a high power in a com- 

 pound microscope, the little globules appeared depressed in the centre, 

 and darkest on one side. 



It is natural to enquire how these worms find access to the bodies of 

 insects coated in mail of such proof as the Carabidcc are encased in. 

 It seems evident they cannot enter by the mouth, as the CarahidcB 

 greedily cut up and devour them. Do they not (after the manner of the 

 Gordius MedincnsisJ penetrate and lodge themselves in the bodies of 

 the Carabidee upon their first emerging from the pupa into the imago 

 state ? At this time we know the bodies of the Carabidce are so soft as 

 to be easily penetrated, and that they remain some time in this state con- 

 cealed in situations where these worms are not unlikely to be found. 



Mr. Jeffreys, in his valuable Synopsis of the Testaceous PneumO' 

 nobranchous Mollusca of Great Britain, in the last part of the " Trans- 

 " actions of the Linnean Society," has stated some facts, which appear 

 to render this opinion probable, and the same Naturalist has also sus- 

 pected that the Gordii are the food of the insectivorous JVater Beetles. 

 He says, " All the inhabitants of this genus ^LimneusJ may be truly 

 *' termed amphibious, since the nature of their food frequently obliges 

 " them to seek it on wet and marshy ground. During the sprino- they 

 " are greatly infested by a minute slender species oi Gordius which, in 

 " number from two to ten, attach themselves to the interior of the mantle 

 " near its connection with the neck of the animal. This troublesome 

 " parasite does not seem to be stationary, since I have not unfrequently 

 " observed it to change its place and take up perhaps more commo- 

 " dious quarters in another shell. It probably constitutes part of the 

 " food of the smaller DytiscidcB, After I had put two sorts (the Dyt. 

 *' trifidus and Dyt. crassicornisj into the glass vessel where the Limnei 

 *' were kept I could not detect any signs of the Gordii : though in other 

 " cases I have known them to survive, even after their guardians had 

 " begun to putrify." 



