Oct. 26, 1871 | 
NATURE 
599 

apex by means of a delicate transparent membrane. The 
single spiculum situated at the extreme end of the tail, 
projects slightly forwards, being surrounded by three 
skittle-shaped bodies. The tail of the female is curved 
upon itself, rounded off, and drawn out at the extreme 
end into a straight, beak-shaped point, whilst to both sides 
of the stumpy caudal extremity of the body, short vesicular 
elevations are attached. The female generative opening 
occurs at the commencement of the second half of the 
body. 
“ Judging by its external characters this genus is most 
closely allied to Strongylus.” 
The above description is supplemented by a more 
lengthened account of the internal organisation of the 
worm; this part of the record displaying in an espe- 
‘cial manner those powers of accurate observation which 
so fully characterised the great systematist in helmin- 
thology prior to the time when he was deprived of his 
eye-sight. 
Having communicated to Prof. Fletcher my views re- 
specting the true history and identification of S/ephanurus, 
he was pleased tosupply me with some further particulars. 
Thus, (after receiving my reply) in his second communi- 
cation (dated from Indianapolis, February 22), he says: 
“TY at once renewed my researches, and was rewarded by 
finding the little saw-like teeth, upon a six-sided jaw, and, 
if I mistake not, two larger teeth or hooks, I also re- 
moved the lungs, heart, and liver, entire, from several 
hogs (just killed by shooting in the head) and found the 
worm, as before stated, in the liver, in all the hepatic 
vessels, and also in the vena cava. Insome cases I found 
the eggs in abundance in the pelvis of the kidney, and in 
the urine, even when I could discover no cysts or worms 
about them.” 
Dr. Fletcher then alludes to the circumstance that 
he had since his first letter to me placed himself in 
correspondence with Prof. Verrill, who, it appears, 
had previously examined the worm. Prof. Fletcher 
also obligingly enclosed Prof. Verrill’s paper, extracted 
from the American Fournal of Science and Aris 
of September 1870, and, jin so far as I may be guided by 
its contents, it would now appear that the very first 
specimens which were obtained in the United States were 
the “five” examples sent by Dr. M. C. White, of New 
Haven, U.S., to Prof. Verrill, who adds :—“ In the second 
instance, at Middleton, Conn., Dr. N. Cressy found large 
numbers of the worms in the fat about the kidneys of a 
young Suffolk pig, brought from New Jersey.” 
The title of Prof. Verrill’s paper is, “ Description of 
Sclerostoma pinguicola, a new species of entozoa from the 
hog.” 
At this point I pause to remark on some of the more 
practical questions connected with Svephanurus, for it 
must be quite obvious that so large a parasite, compara- 
tively speaking, must, when present in great numbers, 
give rise to a great amount of disease, even if it should 
not ordinarily prove fatal. Dr. Fletcher, indeed, does not 
hesitate to write as follows :—“ It is my opinion that this 
parasite is the cause, in some way, of the hog cholera, 
which has created such sad havoc within the past ten 
years, over the pork-producing parts of America, One 
farmer told mea few days ago that within a month his 
loss alone from this cause was over one hundred head ; 
and sometimes, in one neighbourhood, in a few days time, 
thousands have perished, although this season is nota 
cholera year, as our farmers say. I advised one farmer to 
burn or bury the dead animals ; but he informed me that 
he believed that fewer hogs die of the disease after eating 
the dead animals than those kept from them, Unfor- 
tunately, in this State there is no law guarding the spread 
of disease, neither is there any reward of reputation: or 
gain for pursuing any investigation that would bring pork 
and beef packers into disrepute. I myself could not get 
a pig’s kidney or beef’s liver in our city market, because I 

made investigations in some Texas cattle (being cut up in 
our market) which damaged their sale a few years ago.” 
In a third letter Dr. Fletcher tells me that greater facilities 
for examining the carcases of hogs had since been 
accorded him through the liberality of a Liverpool firm of 
pork packers, who had already killed 75,000 hogs during 
the summer season, 2.¢., up to the date of the first week in 
July. In hot weather the slaughtering is conducted in ice- 
houses. 
These practical observations by Dr. Fletcher appear to 
me to be of the highest importance, even though it should 
eventually turn out that there is no immediate connection 
between the occurrence of Stefhanurus and the hog 
cholera epidemics. That this opinion rests upon sub- 
stantial data seems probable from the circumstance that 
we have now not only received evidence of the occurrence 
of Stephanurus in Australia, but we are further apprised 
that the pigs which harbour it die of the disease super- 
induced by their presence, As I have already stated, in 
my second letter, published in the pages of the Aredash 
Medical Fournal, our earliest intelligence on this point 
rests upon the evidence furnished by a series of unnamed 
slides transmitted from Sydney to the President of the 
Royal Microscopical Society of London. Through the . 
kindness of the Society’s able Secretary, Mr. Slack, F.G.S., 
I was permitted to-examine, identify, and name all the 
specimens, and it was then that I recognised Szephanurus 
amongst the number, 
On the 4th inst, Dr. Morris’s paper, which accompanied 
the specimens, was read tothe Society. In that paper the 
author, like Prof. Verrill, expresses his belief that he has 
found a new entozoon, “its habitat being the fat surround- 
ing the kidney of the pig.” He speaks of it as occurring 
both in the “ free and encysted state, the encysted being 
its final stage of existence,” and, he adds, “its solid parts 
ultimately disappear, leaving a greyish brown fluid con- 
taining thousands of eggs.” Those who desire further 
particulars in reference to the parasitism of pigs and sheep 
in Australia should consult Dr. Morris’s paper, which will 
appear in the forthcoming November number of the 
Monthly Microscopical Fournal, Dr. Morris speaks of 
the pigs as dying from some mysterious disease, and 
thinks “it is possible that this worm or its broed may be 
the cause.” In some cases their death takes place quite 
suddenly, and this he supposes to be due to peritonitis set 
up by the swarming and migrations of the progeny. Be 
this as it may, it is interesting to notice the remarkable 
corsespondency of the conclusions arrived at by Dr. 
Fletcher and Dr. Morris independently. It will probably 
not be difficult to ascertain hereafter whether or not the 
maladies respectively termed “Hog Cholera” and 
“Mysterious Disease” are one and the same disorder ; 
but whatever happens in this respect, it is now quite clear 
that this parasite, hitherto little regarded, and for many 
years past persistently overlooked, is extraordinarily pre- 
valent in the United States, and, perhaps, equally so in 
Australia, it being further evident that its presence in the 
flesh of swine is capable of producing both disease and 
death. The statement of the worthy American farmer 
that the swallowing of infested flesh by a pig does not 
necessarily involve the pig-eating hog in a bad attack of 
a so-called “Cholera disease” requires to be further 
tested, and it also remains to be proven whether or not 
the Stephanurus be capable of passing through all its 
developmental changes from the egg to the adult form 
within the body of the bearer without having at some 
time or other gained access to the outer world. The com- 
paratively large size of the ova, which I find to be about 
zg0 ) or more than four times the size of that of Trichina, 
is not without significance ; but as yet we are unacquainted 
with the larval stages of growth. If no intermediary 
bearers are necessary to its development, we ought not to 
have to wait long for a complete record of the life-history 
of Stephanurus dentatus, T. S. COBBOLD 
