WORM PARASITES. 857 



Society, was put into action in November 1910, and the practical 

 working has been evolved as follows : A general examination of the 

 viscera of all the animals killed or dying in the Gardens is made 

 by the Pathologist, after which certain selected examples are 

 forwarded to me for further examination. The desirability of this 

 latter procedure is shown by the fact that a very large proportion of 

 Entozoa are too small to be detected in the course of an ordinary 

 routine examination ; and although the detection of such forms 

 does not involve any very special skill, yet it is a tedious process 

 and one which necessitates some experience. In justification of 

 this extra trouble it may be remarked that the comparatively 

 few animals which have been submitted to this additional 

 examination have yielded almost as large a number of parasitic 

 worms as all the other animals put together. This fact, I 

 venture to believe, is a plea for a still more extended and 

 exhaustive system of examination, dealing with all the animals 

 which die in the Gardens. This, naturally, would involve some 

 additional expenditure, which the Society is probably not at 

 present in a position to incur, but it would certainly yield a very 

 rich return. 



In addition to supplying information with regard to the 

 diseases and habits of the animals living in the Gardens, as was 

 the original intention of the scheme, it also provides oppor- 

 tunities of studying the parasitic fauna of the various countries 

 from which the animals come. This is a very important con- 

 sideration, for it is an unfortunate fact that in most of the large 

 faunistic expeditions which have hitherto been undertaken 

 practically no attempt has been made to deal with the internal 

 parasites. As important exceptions to this may be mentioned 

 the German Expedition to Spitzbergen in 1898, and the Swedish 

 Expedition to Egypt and the "White Nile in 1901. By both of 

 these expeditions a large number of parasitic forms has been 

 collected, and the results have been published in a series of very 

 valuable monographs. Dr. Leiper has, at these meetings, on 

 more than one occasion called attention to this regrettable 

 neglect of the parasitic fauna, and has urged on collectors the 

 great service they would render by making even a cursory 

 attempt to collect parasitic worms. 



During the past seventeen months a total of 198 animals have 

 been submitted to me for examination, the great majority of 

 which have been birds and reptiles. Of these, 87 were found to 

 be infected with worm parasites of one kind or another, i.e., 

 about 44 per cent. In most cases the infection was single, only 

 one species of parasite occurring ; but in an Indian Cobia as many 

 as six different species were found. As is generally the case, 

 Nematode infections were much more numerous than any others, 

 there being 60 cases. Trematodes were found in 28 cases, and 

 Cestodes in 15. The Trematodes belong to about 20 distinct 

 species, a large proportion of which are new, and several of 

 which are new generic types. 



