ASCAHIS MYSTAX. 819 



Oxyuris) ; and he proceeds to notice tlie third form in the follow- 

 ing manner : — 



" The third species of the genus Ascaris, which occurs in the 

 human intestine, has not hitherto been described (although it would 

 appear to have been already observed in this country) ; as yet I 

 have met with it only once. It belongs to the third division in 

 Rudolphi's arrangement, and to the subdivision in which the head 

 is winged. From the distinctness of the lateral membranes of the 

 head, I have given it the name of Ascaris alata.'^ 



Dr. Bellingham states that he possessed two specimens, both 

 females ; and having next given a minute description of them, he 

 goes on to remark : " The only instance in which I have as yet met 

 with the Ascaris alata was on the occasion of my having prescribed 

 for a child, aged about five years, who exhibited symptoms of worms. 

 I ordered some vermifuge medicine, and desired, in case any worms 

 were voided, that they should be kept. A day or two afterwards 

 the specimens, from which I have taken the above description, were 

 brought to me ; they were dead when I received them, and I could 

 not learn that the child ever passed any since." Dr. Belhngham 

 then refers to a previously-pubhshed case, where worms " closely 

 resembling" his so-called new species had been " passed by a female 

 residing in the county of Cork," and thereupon concludes his paper 

 with the following statement : — " This species, the Ascaris alata, 

 is very distinct from the Ascaris lumhricoides of the human sub- 

 ject. In general appearance it is not unlike the Ascaris mystax, 

 which inhabits the stomach and small intestines of the cat ; it differs, 

 however, in having a greater diameter posteriorly than anteriorly, 

 and in the lateral membranes of the head being broader in the 

 Ascaris mystax than they are in the species under consideration. 

 There are some minor points in which they also differ, which will 

 be observed if we contrast the characters of the two species." 



So much for Dr. Bellingham's interesting record, which appears 

 to me to be singularly clear and accurate, although, as I shall 

 show in the sequel, he has, after all, only been describing a genuine 



