2C0 



DE. T. SPEKCER COBBOLD ON STllONGTLUS AXET. 



(X\ 



original find was made in November 1864, the student-discoverer 

 being the present vpell-known authority on com- 

 parative pathology, Professor Axe. The sketch 

 itself afforded no indication as to the size of the 

 worm ; but it was alleged that the parasites were 

 barely visible to the naked eye, and further that 

 similar microscopic Entozoa had since been pro- 

 cured from the stomach-walls of three more don- 

 keys. Being invited to pronounce offhand upon 

 their nature, I at once remarked that the enlarge- 

 ment at the tail-end, surmounted as it was by a 

 dark line suggestive of the presence of spicules, 

 implied that these so-called " embryonic worms " 

 must be adult male Nematoids. I also added, 

 " The worms are new to science." Further, with- 

 out waiting for verification, I named the parasite 

 in honour of its discoverer, and published a brief Xv"^-^ 

 notice of the find in my general treatise 

 ('Parasites,' 1879, p. 383). Subsequently a short Copy of SimonrVs 

 description of the parasite appeared in the pages °"8'^"^ drawing. 

 of a professional periodical (' The Veterinarian,' Jan. 1884, p. 6), 

 Priority of discovery in Professor Axe's favour having been 

 thus secured, I have since sought and obtained abundant oppor- 

 tunity of verifying and extending the scanty facts on which the 

 original diagnosis was founded. When occupying the chair of 

 Helminthology at the college, students repeatedly brought me 

 fresh specimens from dissecting-room subjects, the most success- 

 ful pupil being Mr. Hass^ll. Apart, however, from all questions 

 of personal interest attaching to its discovery, the parasite is of 

 particular importance not only on account of its small size, but 

 also in respect of its affinity with other gastric and intestinal 

 strongyles. No figure of it has hitherto been published. Its 

 structural characters corresjjond very closely with those which 

 I described as marking the little entozoon infesting the proven- 

 triculus of ostriches {Strongylus Douglassii, Cobb.), and, so far 

 as I know, these two species are the smallest of their genus. 

 Then, again, its manifest afiinity with the grouse strongyle 

 {8ir. jiergracilis, Cobb.) and with the stomach-worm of lambs 

 {Sir. contortus) is noteworthy. Quite a variety of maw-worms 

 have recently been discovered ; and although there is at present 

 no evidence to prove that donkeys actually suffer from the 



