738 DR. T. S. COBBOLD ON NEW OR RARE ENTOZOA. [Nov. 18, 



beyond 3 feet. I believe tbis entozoon was first described anato- 

 mically by Prof. Owen, from the College specimens above men- 

 tioned ; but the only original remarks on the subject that I have 

 seen from his pen are some few contained in the article *' Eutozoa" 

 in Dr. Todd's ' Cyclopaedia of Anatomy,' and others given in his 

 • Lectures on Comparative Anatomy.' From the published dates of 

 these contributions (1839 and 1843 respectively), I am led to conclude 

 that the first discovery of this worm actually rests with Mr. Darwin, 

 since the late M. Diesing's specific description and nomenclature was 

 evidently based on an examination of specimens obtained by Nat- 

 terer in Brazil, the date of which would probably be about 1833, or 

 perhaps a year later. However, as Natterer was many years pre- 

 viously resident in Brazil, and no special date of his particular " find " 

 is given by Diesing, it is impossible for me to speak with certainty on 

 this point. It is perhaps of little moment; and under any circum- 

 stances the systematist's specific title must be allowed to stand. 



My examination of the females confirms Prof. Owen's statement 

 respecting the simple character of the uterine organ and the forward 

 position of the reproductive outlet. To be precise, I find that the 

 vulva is placed ^g inch below the points of the labial papillae. Of 

 these papillae 1 think there are ten or twelve, two of which project 

 conspicuously beyond the rest, forming, as Diesing well observed, 

 conical spines. Their length from base to apex is scarcely more 

 than -j-Lj inch ; but their appearance suggests a structural affinity 

 with the similar oral spines occurring in the Guinea-worm. In 

 Dracunculus, however, according to Bastian, the two large spines are 

 placed before and behind the mouth, not laterally. 



This parasite from the Ostrich does not reproduce viviparously ; 

 at least there were no free embryos in the uterine duct. The eggs 

 were chiefly of two sizes, those in which yolk-segmentation was 

 going on measuring ji - inch in length, whilst the perfectly mature 

 ova, containing coiled embryos, gave an average of ^i^ inch, being 

 at the same time proportionally broader than the smaller eggs, whose 

 transverse diameter was not more than 1(J \, inch. 



As this worm has probably never been figured, I append a represen- 

 tation of the male (Plate LXIV. fig. 1), also au outline of the head and 

 tail of the female (fig. 2), of the natural size, with a separate outline 

 of the oral spines of the latter magnified sixty diameters (fig. 3). I 

 likewise represent the egg in two stages of growth (fig. 4). Lastly, 

 I may remark that this worm has not hitherto been recorded from 

 the cavity of the stomach. That on this particular point there is 

 no error in Mr. Darwin's MS., I think highly probable, not only 

 from the distinguished collector's known accuracy, but from the 

 circumstance that the parasites were so much coiled round one 

 another that it took me nearly half an hour to unravel and separate 

 them. I further presume that the tangled state was the condition 

 in which they were originally found in the bird's stomach. 



2. FlLARIA IMMITIS, Leidy. 



During the autumn of 1869 I received from Mr. Swinhoe the heart 



