BT THE LATE CHAELES DAEWm. 175 



placed on record. The data, though fragmentary, will at least 

 serve to s]io\a' that Mr. Darwin paid more attention to parasites 

 than many of the later travelling naturalists who have enjoyed 

 far larger opportunities of collecting them. 



1. FiLARiA HOEEIDA, Diesing. 



F. rhese, Owen. 



Dicheilonema, Diesing. 



Up to the year 1874 I had seen no figure of this entozoon ; but 

 the species was at that time readily identified from the descrip- 

 tions of Owen and Diesing. Mr, Darwin's specimens comprised 

 three male and seven female worms, and were distinctly labelled, 

 " From the stomach of a Ehea, Bahia Blanca, North Patagonia, 

 1832." At the time of writing the paper quoted below, I thought 

 it not improbable that Mr. Darvsdn had anticipated batterer's 

 discovery. Such was not the case. The original finds of this 

 entozoon were made by Natterer at Arica, Cuyaba, and Caigai'a 

 in 1823-4<-6 respectively ; all the worms being lodged within 

 the cavity of the thorax of the host. Full particulars of the 

 finds and an excellent account of the anatomy of the worms are 

 given by Diesing. It is noteworthy that the longest of Darwin's 

 female specimens was under 30 inches, whilst batterer's largest 

 worm was over 33 inches, and Schneider gives the greatest length 

 attained in a specimen as beyond 52 inches, or up to 1360millim. 

 I may mention that when engaged in forming a special collection 

 of Entozoa for the Hunterian Museum in 1865, I found several 

 unnamed specimens of this worm in the store-rooms of the 

 College. They had doubtless been given to Prof. Owen by 

 Natterer some 25 years previously, for I find that Diesing makes 

 mention of such a donation. In his well-known article " Entozoa," 

 quoted below, Owen speaks of a female worm as being " about 30 

 inches in length." My measurement of one of the same series 

 gave a length of 35 inches. Schneider's subsequent account of 

 the number and position of the oval and caudal papillae cleared up 

 all doubts which existed on these anatomical points. Considering 

 the afiinities of this entozoon with the Gruinea-worm, it would be 

 a great gain to possess some knowledge of its development. Not 

 improbably entomostracous crustaceans play the role of inter- 

 mediary host. 



The literature of Filaria Iwrrida now stands as follows : — 



Owen. — Art. Entozoa in Todd's Cyclopaedia of Anat. 1839, p. 141 ; 

 Lect. on Comp. Anat. 1P43, p. 74 ; and 2nd ed. p. 109. 



