﻿IX. B. 6 Walker: Morphology of the Adults of Filaria 489 



While the measurements of filaria vary with the maturity of 

 the specimens measured, and there exists considerable discrep- 

 ancy in the dimensions of the same species as given by different 

 authors, yet we can, I believe, at least exclude by these measure- 

 ments the identity of the Philippine filaria with Filaria (Loa) 

 loa and Filaria magalhaesi. Filaria (Loa) loa is further ex- 

 cluded by the presence of rounded bosses on the cuticle, by the 

 absence of a spirally twisted tail in the male, by the presence 

 of 4 well-marked papillae of peculiar form on each side of the 

 ventral surface of the tail, and by the relatively great distance 

 of the vaginal opening from the anterior end ; and Filaria magal- 

 haesi, by the habitat of the adult in the left ventrical of the 

 heart, by the presence of 4 pairs of preanal and 4 pairs of post- 

 anal papillae in the male, and by the relatively great distance 

 of the vaginal opening from the anterior end. 



Filaria perstans is excluded by the triangular cuticular append- 

 age of the tail, by the absence of 2 unequal spicules in the male, 

 and by the characters of the larvae, which are small and blunt- 

 tailed and possess no sheath. 



Filaria demarquayi differs from the Philippine species in the 

 greater diameter of the head, in the tail which tapers abruptly 

 behind the anal papillae, in the marked cuticular thickening at 

 the tip of the tail, and in the small size and absence of a sheath 

 in the larva. 



Filaria ozza/di is excluded from the identity of our sp6cies 

 by the bulbous end of the tail and by the small size and absence 

 of a sheath in the larva. 



The Fijian filaria is believed by Bahr (1912) , who has recently 

 investigated filariasis in the Fiji Islands on a commission from 

 the London School of Tropical Medicine, and by Leiper, helmin- 

 thologist of the London School of Tropical Medicine, to whom 

 adult worms were submitted, to be Filaria bancrofti, in spite 

 of the absence of periodicity in the peripheral blood displayed 

 by the larvae. Bahr believes that this lack of periodicity of the 

 filarial larvae in the Fiji Islands is due to a partial adaptation 

 of the parasite to its commonest transmitting host, Stegomyia 

 pseudoscutellaris, a mosquito which feeds by day only, 

 the Philippine filaria is identical with Filaria bancrofti or (2) 



Therefore, there remain two possibilities; namely, (1) that 

 that it is a new species, as was believed by Ashburn and Craig. 

 I believe that the former possibility is the truth. 



There are no characters that preclude the identity of the Phil- 

 ippine filaria with Filaria bancrofti. The small size of the 

 intrauterine larvae is evidently due to their immaturity. On the 



