ASCARIS OSCULATA. 



155 



Icelaud, by Halliis; twice iu Phoca barbata [= Erignathus barbatus), by Olrik, iu 

 Grcenlaiicl; three times iu JSalichoerus grypnn, locality not given; once in Cystojphora 

 cristata, by Olrik, in Greenland; twice in Trichecus rosmarus {= Odohenus rosmorus), 

 by Olrik, m Greenland, and five times in undetermined seals, on Faroe, by Miiller; 

 Iceland, by Steincbe, and Greenland, by Jorgenseii and Miiller. As many as 200 to 

 300 were occasionally found in a single seal, the proportion of males to females being 

 about 2 : 3. 



While Schneider gives the measurements of the male as 40'""', of the female 50'"™, 

 Krabbe found the males attaining 60'""', the females 80""'" in length. He was unable 

 to observe the carmine pigment ring mentioned by Schneider. 



Oobbold (1879, pp. 313, 314), states that Ascaris osctdata seems to be present in 

 full-grown seals of every kind. In 1862-1864 he conducted a series of experiments 

 with the eggs of this worm, rearing embryos both in salt and fresh water, but the 

 feeding of the young worms to various animals led to no result. He watched the 



Fix. 83. 



Fijr. 84. 



Fis. 85. 



growth of the embryos until they had acquired well-marked digestive organs and a 

 length of one twenty-fifth of an inch, their size when emerging from the egg shell in 

 the water having been about one oue-hundred-and-fiftieth of an inch only. His figure 

 of the female shows a characteristic prominent transverse ridge at the position of the 

 vulva, about on. the border of the first and second anterior thirds of the body. 



Vou Linstow (1880, pp. 44, 45) records the same species from the stomach of 

 JSalichoerus grypus (Zool. Mas. Univ., of Kiel, No. 9). His observations on the dorsal 

 lip differ somewhat from Krabbe's, as he found the margin provided with teeth; the 

 rounded lateral projections belong to an inner layer and lie in the same plane with 

 the outer surface. 



Von Marenzeller's (1882-83, p. 18) article is not at our disposal. 



Nehring (1884, p. 59) states that he found numerous si^ecimens in a TIalichoervR 

 shot at Goehren (Riigen) iu 1882; he also found an Ascaris in 1884, in Halichoerus 

 (jrypus; the parasites were not determined deliuitely, but Karsch stated to him that 

 they were closely related to A. osculata. 



