120 Miscellaneous. 



studying their food. It therefore appears to mo to be more in 

 conformity with the truth to suppose that the worms had attached 

 themselves of their own accord to the mucous membranes of the 

 ducks or geese as they were engaged in seeking their food *. 



I would add that the call-ducks enaployed in shooting, which 

 remain attached to cords for hours at a time out in the water in 

 front of the huts, are sometimes attacked by little leeches. The 

 keepers, however, by whom I was informed of the fact, never pro- 

 cured me any specimens. 



Ee that as it may, the possibility of the dissemination of leeches 

 by Palmipeds appears to be placed absolutely beyond doubt. In 

 damp weather a leech, sheltered beneath the compact plumage of a 

 duck, can be transported a very long distance in a very few hours t, 

 especially if the flight is further accelerated by some atmospheric 

 disturbance. I may be permitted to quote a final instance, which 

 will serve to clear up the subject. 



In the only case with which I am acquainted in which a leech 

 {Lo}ii]iohdeUa Quatrefagesi, Poir. «& Rocheb.) was reported as having 

 accidentally attached itself to birds, the creature was actually found 

 upon migratory Palmipeds, on the internal wall of the pouch of 

 pelicans (Pelecanus crispus, Bruch., and P. onocrotnlus, L.). Prom 

 the special point of view of dissemination it is curious to compare 

 this fact with the following, mentioned by Caspari, the hydrographic 

 engineer, and which I tender, without further comment, to all those 

 who are interested in the grand phenomena of Nature : — 



" Another less formidable but very curious effect of the tornados 

 is their influence on the fauna of the regions visited by them. That 

 of 1865 acclimatized pelicans in Guadeloupe ; these birds, according 

 to the old fishermen, were formerly unknown in the island, and 

 to-day they abound in the whole of the north-west portion, near the 

 Grand Cul-de-Sac " J. — Comptes Rendus Juhdomadaires des seances 

 de la Societe de Biologic (Seance du 30 Janvier, 1892) : from a sepa- 

 rate impression communicated by the Author. 



* I would mention, as being closely connected with this, a case observed 

 in Ireland, and reported in ' The Veterinarian,' ser. 4, vol. viii. Jan. 1862, 

 p. 19 (" Worms in the Eyes of Geese "). I am indebted to Prof, llailliet 

 for bringing it to my notice. 



The case was one of geese being rendered blind by leeches (?). On the 

 eyeball of one of the birds being divided "a small black worm, just like 

 a young leech, came out.'' The creature in questiou was kept alive for 

 some time in a veterinary hospital in Dublin. The affected geese had 

 access to a stream where there were numbers of leeches. It r-amaius to 

 be discovered how the worms were able to penetrate the eye. The species 

 was not determined. 



t I may here remind the reader that a wild duck flies in ordinary 

 weather at a speed of 40 to 45 miles (66 a 72 kilometres) an hour. Vide 

 J. de Guerue, ' Excursions zoologiques dans les iles de Fayal et de San 

 Miguel (Azores),' Paris, 1888, p. 89. 



X Caspari, " Uue Mission a la Guadeloupe. Notes de geographic 

 physique" (' Revue maritime et coloniale,' Oct. 1871, p. 412). 



