108 THE INTERNAL PARASITES OF 



creature dwells in the nasal and frontal sinuses ; our 

 dogs commonly obtaining the worm by frequenting 

 butchers' stalls and slaughterhouses, where portions of 

 the fresh viscera are apt to be inconsiderately flung to 

 hungry animals. 



One of the most interesting cases ever published 

 (where suspicions of dog poisoning had been unwar- 

 rantably entertained) shows that even death itself may 

 result from the presence of the pentastome. It was 

 recorded by Professor Dick, in the Veterinarian for 1840 

 (p. 42). 



A fine and healthy dog died suddenly ; and after 

 death, in place of discovering mercury, arsenic, or some 

 one of the other metallic poisons which were carefully 

 sought for, Mr. Dick detected three pentastomes. They 

 had evidently produced the fatal result by wandering 

 from the nasal chambers downwards — one lodging in the 

 larynx, one in the trachea, and the third in the left 

 bronchus. 



As these singular parasites appreciate warmth, I have 

 no doubt that the cold air of the winter's morning (on 

 which the dog was taken out by the keeper) caused the 

 downward migration of the pentastomes, thereby also 

 producing the fatal suffocation. 



When writing on this subject in The Field, a friend 

 called my attention to the circumstance that I had 

 omitted to speak of the so-called common maw-worms, 

 continually seen on the fgeces of dogs in kennels, in the 

 streets, and elsewhere. It is only right, therefore, that I 

 should mention that these white, vermiform, disgusting 

 looking parasites were described by the late Mr. Youatt 

 as independent species of Ascarides, and he confounded 

 them with examples of the Ascaris vermicularis, so 



