124 DR. T. S. COB HOLD ON NEW OR RARE ENTOZOA. [Feb. 3, 



2. Notes on Entozoa. Part II. By T. Spencer Cobbold, 

 M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S., Lecturer on Parasites at the 

 Middlesex Hospital Medical College. 



[Eeceived January 2, 1874.] 

 (Plate XVIII.) 



Whilst engaged in writing the concluding portion of ray tirst set 

 of " notes," I received for examination a nematode parasite, some 

 brief account of which will appropriately commence the present 



series. 



4. Filaria gracilis, Rud. (Plate XVIII. figs. 1-4.) 



On the 20th of August, 1873, Mr. Samuel Smith, M.R.C.S., of 

 Clifton, transmitted an example of this entozoon, with a request that 

 1 would identify it. Finding that the specimen was a male, and 

 unaware that the males of this species ever attained a length of 20 

 inches, I at first supposed that we had to deal with a new form. 

 However, on subsequently analyzing its characters, I became satis- 

 fied that the worm was really only an unusually fine male F. gracilis. 

 The frequency of the occurrence of this nematode in the abdominal 

 cavity and other parts of the trunk of Monkeys is a matter of com- 

 mon observation. I remounted no less than four preparations, 

 representing numerous examples of this Worm, for the Museum of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons. Some of the Hunterian specimens 

 were originally obtained by Professor Owen from the cavity of the 

 pleura of a Capuchin Monkey, others having been removed by him 

 from the thorax of an Orang-outang. From Mr. Smith I have learnt 

 that the present example formed one of a group of five Worms, all 

 of which were found lying between the folds of the omentum of a 

 Spider Monkey (Ateles). My informant also remarks that one of 

 the Worms was enclosed in a " false sac, formed by a twisting of 

 that portion of the serous membrane which is immediately connected 

 with the inferior curvature of the stomach." It further appears 

 that the example in question was the smallest of the five, although 

 I found it to measure upwards of twenty inches without any stretch- 

 ing. Whilst the Vienna helminthologist, Diesing, only allowed an 

 extreme length of four inches for the male worm, the French 

 authority, Dujardin, stated that specimens had been reported up to 

 a length of 12| inches. Females have been recorded as reaching a 

 a length of 5 feet. 



Not being acquainted with any satisfactory representation of this En- 

 tozoon, I have thrown the parasite into a series of folds so as to enable 

 me to display its full length and general appearance (Plate XVIII. 

 fig. I). I have also added an enlarged and accurate outline represen- 

 tation of the head and neck (fig. 2). The description of the Worm 

 by Dujardin leaves little or nothing to be desired. Speaking of the 

 tail, he observes that the extremity is furnished with two or three 

 papillae, serially disposed in front of or above the point. I examined 



