ON BELMULLET WHALING STATION. 131 



In the fresh condition the cysts were white on the exterior, but 

 had dark-red contents. 



(c) In No. 11, Finner, female, I found in the uterus a vesicle 

 If in. in diameter and filled with a clear yellowish fluid. This was 

 presei-ved in the hope that it might be an early embryonic stage, but 

 on examination no trace of an embryo could be discerned. 



In section the walls of one vesicle show uterine glands, and blood- 

 vessels, in connective tissue. I believe this to be one of the ' ovulte 

 Nabothi ' of the human anatomists. These are visible to the naked eye 

 in the human uterus, and it seems not unreasonable to expect that in 

 an animal so much larger, such as a whale, the ' ovulse ' would be of 

 correspondingly greater size. This was the largest vesicle seen, but 

 a number of smaller vesicles were observed. A number of small 

 roundish objects about J in. long, and which pi'oved to be masses of 

 cells, were found in the same uterus. They may have been wandering 

 leucocytes, which had passed through the uterine wall into the lumen 

 of the organ. 



VIII. Parasites. 



1. External. 



(a) Balcenophiliis unisetits (Aurivillius). — There is nothing new to 

 report on this form. 



(b) Penella (Kov. and Dan.). — A few specimens were found, all 

 females. No males were observed on them. One, seen on June '27, had 

 egg-sacs of great length. 



2. Internal. 



(a) Monostomum plicatum (Creplin) was found in the intestines of 

 fourteen of the Fin Whales examined. One specimen of exceptional 

 size was taken. It is 1'7 cm. in length (in a somewhat compressed 

 condition). 



(b) Cestodes. — (i) In the intestine of Finner No. 9 a number of 

 cestodes were found. They were plentiful, nine being taken from about 

 a yard of gut. These parasites are of small size, about 8 in. long. The 

 scolex is dilated and has four well-marked suckers, but there appears 

 to be no armed rostellum. The proglottides at the larger (free) 

 extremity of the specimens have the uterus filled with ova, and are 

 therefore fairly ripe. One cestode exhibiting this condition of the 

 posterior proglottides is 71 in. in length. This form appears to be 

 related to Tcenia. 



(ii) A number of large cestodes occurred in the intestine of Blue 

 Whale No. 3. They are devoid of acetabula. The scolex has the 

 form of a soft pear-shaped head about 1 cm. long in a large specimen. 

 At the base of this is a flattened discoid collar, having a diameter of 

 3 mm. The pyriform mass is embedded in the intestinal mucosa, while 

 the collar appears to have the function of preventing it from penetrating 

 too far. The proglottides are very short and wide, while the line of 

 demarcation between tliem is not very clearly marked. One of these 

 cestodes has a length of 27 in. Neither of the above has as yet been 

 identified.. 



K 2 



