296 DR. T. 8. COBBOLD ON HUMAN ENTOZOA. [Noy. 25, 
ferable to Ascaris mystaz. As this volume is not likely to be acces- 
sible to foreign writers, I adduce a few of the leading facts, which, if 
carefully weighed, will, I think, clear up all doubts as to the nature 
of Bellingham’s 4. alata, and at the same time rescue from oblivion 
a most interesting helminthological contribution. 
Dr. Pickells’s patient was a woman, aged twenty-eight years. The 
first worm came away in April 1822, and on being submitted toa 
distinguished naturalist, Dr. J. V. Thomson, of Cork, this authority 
remarked as follows :—‘ The Ascaris resembles most that which is 
so common an inhabitant of the stomach of the Cat (Ascaris felis), 
but it is rather longer in proportion to its thickness.” 
After an interval of one year and ten months (#. e. in Feb. 1824) 
several were passed; then again (in November 1825) eleven more ; 
and subsequently (in March 1826) an additional batch of nine were 
thrown up alive. In all, Dr. William Pickells had “seen about 
fifty of various sizes.” They were generally evacuated alive, and, in 
a majority of instances, without medicine. ‘They came away usually 
in groups of six or more:” and he adds, “‘I have sometimes found 
a whole group knit together by the extremities. The common Lum- 
bricus (Ascaris lumbricoides) was also eliminated in some instances. 
One (of the latter) measured upwards of a foot.” 
Thus much for the first case. The second is almost equally con- 
vincing, if a comparison be instituted between the figures given by 
the authors. Continental writers have only referred to Dr. Belling- 
ham’s ‘Catalogue of Irish Entozoa’ for a description of Ascaris 
alata; but the account there given is very meagre, in fact a mere 
abstract. In the ‘Dublin Medical Press’ for 1831, vol. i. p. 104, 
Bellingham writes as follows :—“ The only instance in which I have 
as yet met with the Ascaris alata was on the occasion of my pre- 
scribing for a child aged about five years, who exhibited symptoms 
of worms. I ordered some vermifuge medicine, and desired, in case 
any worms were voided, that they should be kept. A day or two 
afterwards the specimens from which I have taken the above deserip- 
tion [given in his paper.—T. 8. C.], and which had been expelled by 
the medicine, were brought to me ; they were dead when I received 
them, and I could not learn that the child ever passed any since.” 
Dr. Bellingham then refers to Dr. J. V. Thomson’s opinion as to 
the species of nematode in the case under Dr. Pickells’s care, and 
himself admits that the latter worm was “one closely resembling his 
Ascaris alata.’ Ue concludes by stating that this 4. alata “in 
general appearance is not unlike Ascaris mystax, which inhabits the 
stomach and intestines of the Cat; it differs, however, in having a 
greater diameter posteriorly than anteriorly, and in the lateral mem- 
branes of the head being broader in 4A. mystax than they are in the 
species under consideration.” 
I will not now enter further into this question: but I cannot help 
remarking, with surprise, that it is singular any doubt should have 
existed on the subject. None of the alleged differences are of any 
yalue as indications of specific distinctness; and the figures given 
(especially those by J. V. Thomson) are clearly referable to Ascaris 
