262 DE. T. SPENCER COBBOLD ON STRONGYLTJS AXEI. 



The following characters distinguish the microscopic maw- 

 worm of the ass : — 



STRONaTLUS AxEi (Oohb.). 



Body filiform, narrowed in front and behind ; mouth simple, 

 with short oesophagus and strong chitin layer ; hood bilobed, with 

 deeply cleft anterior ray and widely separated divisions ; trunk 

 of the posterior ray united to its fellow, bifurcate at the end : 

 spicules three, the two larger nearly equal, with a small third 

 or accessory piece intercalated ; tail of female ending in a post- 

 anal cone, finely pointed ; vulva within the lower sixth of the 

 body. Length of male nearly ^" (strictly -^-^-^ in.) ; of female 



1" / 2 in A 



Hah. Mucous membrane of the stomach of the ass {Eqims 

 asinus). 



"Whilst the extreme transparency of the worm readily permits 

 the ova and other organs to be measured in situ, the tubal and 

 ovarian filaments, as well as the corresponding elements in the 

 male, entirely escape observation. The lumen of the cesophagus 

 is clearly traceable, a dark line below it representing the closed 

 pharynx ; but I could find no trace of any bulb or other line of 

 separation between the pharynx and the chylous intestine. I 

 suspect the arrangement is the same as obtains in Strongyhts 

 Douglassii. The mid gut is well marked, as is also the rectum 

 at its anal end. 



The pattern of the hood is distinctive, well pronounced, and 

 symmetrical. The widely separated divisions of the anterior ray 

 are thumb-aud-finger-like, the upper digitoid being compara- 

 tively short and narrow, whilst the lower is closely applied to the 

 succeeding ray, except at the end which is turned upward. The 

 antero -lateral or second ray is paramount and directed downward. 

 The middle, third or lateral, ray proper is of moderate size and 

 deeply cleft into equal halves. The postero-lateral or fourth 

 ray is narrow, straight, and placed well apart. The posterior or 

 fifth ray is narrower, and has the shaft united to its fellow of the 



state, the usual nematode form. During its residence in the gastric glands the 

 body-skin grows out, forming the great and the small protrusions which grow 

 into the stomach-glands and serve for the imbibition of nourishment. The 

 relation [thus established] reminds one of the Ehizocephala among the Crus- 

 tacea." — (Signed) A. Schneider, Breslau, Oct. 13, 1885. 



