184 DE. t. S. COBBOl/D OlJ A 



New Eufcozoou from the Ostrich. 



By T. Spenoee Cobbold, M.D., E.E.S., 1\L,!S. 



[Read November 17, 1881.] 



[Plate IV.] 



On the 23rd of Mareli 1880 I received from South Africa two 

 bottles, the larger one containing part of the proventriculus of a 

 young Ostrich preserved in spirit, and the smaller one a quantity 

 of loose vegetable debris, in which were several Nematode worms. 

 These were sent by Mr. Arthur Douglass, of Heath erton Towers, 

 near Grrahamstown ; and, by letter, I was informed that the bird 

 yielding the parasites had not died in consequence of tbe disease 

 from which it was actually suffering, but had been purposely 

 destroyed on account of a broken leg. 



Speaking of tlie proventriculus as the '"' paunch corresponding 

 with the crop of other birds," Mr. Douglass says to me in his 

 letter : — " You will find vast numbers of small Entozoa in the 

 mucus. A medical gentleman who examined them believes them 

 to be a totally unknown worm." Mr. Douglass's statement and 

 his friend's inference are correct. The parasite represents a new 

 species ; and in my reply to the discoverer, I provisionally named 

 it Strongylus Douglassii. Judging from the materials sent, the 

 number of parasites in this bird must have amounted to several 

 thousand. 



Eor diagnosis I give the following characters : — 



Strongylus Douglassii, sp. iiov, — Body smooth, transversely 

 striated, nearly uniform in thickness, rather suddenly narrowed in front ; 

 head minute, often spirally folded inwards; mouth simple, unarmed; (Eso- 

 phagus long, gradually thickening below ; tail of the male with a broad, 

 two-lobed hood and simple ray- arrangement ; spicules short, stout, closely 

 applied ; tail of the female directed inwards, suddenly narrowing below the 

 anus, which is subterminal. 



Length of male 4 inch, breadth about vjo of an inch. 



Length of female ^ inch, breadth about -^^ of an inch. 



Hab. Proventriculus of Struthio camelus. 



The transparency of the body enables one to ascertain the 

 general structure of this little nematode without dissection. The 

 mouth and intestinal tract offer no marked peculiarity ; but in 

 many of the preserved specimens the integuments about the head 

 are so inflated by endosmosis that they are frequently inverted. 



