S22 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XX. 



One of these is a maggot-like creature which I have figured in 

 a recent issue of this Journal* and is called PorocepJialus crotali. 

 It is whitish in colour, about f of an inch long, and attaches itself 

 to the tissues about the entrails of the snake, but is not found in 

 the intestine, or solid organs. Several are to be found in the same 

 snake, but always solitary. The head, which is its thickest part, is 

 furnished on its lower aspect with four curved claw-like hooks, 

 yellowish in colour, and placed around the mouth. By these it 

 attaches itself to the mesenteric folds. The body which gradually 

 reduces in girth posteriorly, consists of several subequal segments. 

 It no doubt sucks the blood of its host. 



Another parasite, and one which must seriously affect the health 

 of its host is a nematode worm called Kalicephalus ivilleyi after 

 .Dr. Willey, the Director of the Colombo Museum (see Plate figures 

 Gr. H. I.) This I have only found in the stomach, attaching itself 

 to the inner coats of that organ, but Von Linstow says it also 

 inhabits the intestine of many snakes. It is of a gregarious habit, 

 and the several members of a single colony vary very much in 

 length, the longest being as much as 5 inches. It is about as 

 thick throughout as the catgut on a tennis racquet, reddish-brown 

 in colour, with a greyish- white caudal extremity. The head as 

 shown by Von Linstow is compressed, and is furrowed dorsally, 

 and ventrally. The mouth is large, and has six papillae, three 

 on each side situated around its margin. The body appears to be 

 depressed, and its surface smooth. Often more than one cluster 

 of these worms is found to have invaded the stomach. This 

 organ as a result of these parasites becomes knuckled and dis- 

 torted, and its wall's very much thickened, cartilaginous, and rigid, 

 so that it would appear doubtful if it could distend sufficiently to 

 accommodate the relatively enormous bulk that is so often swallow- 

 ed at a meal. 



This worm appears to infest many snakes, for it has been 

 reported from the stomach and gullet of Eussell's viper (Vipera 

 russelli, from the intestine of Coluber lielena and from Typhlops 

 braminus) by Von Linstow, f and I have found it in the stomachs 



Vol. XIX, p. 837. 

 f Spol. Zeylan. Vol. I, p. 99, and Vol. Ill, p. 163. 



