88 Part III. — Twenty -sixth Annual Report 



sented by the drawings (figs. 1 and 2, PL IV.). The body tapers slightly 

 towards both ends, and is marked by numerous transverse striae, and thus 

 far it agrees with the definition of E. agilis of Diesing ; there seems, how- 

 ever, to be a slight difference in the number of hooks on the proboscis, of 

 which there are apparently six in the series instead of three. The hooks 

 as shown in the drawing are of moderate size ; those surrounding the 

 summit of the short truncated proboscis extend more or less outwards, 

 while the others, which .spring from about the middle and have stout 

 gibbous bases, are turned downwards. 



I was at first inclined to ascribe this form to Echinorhynchus gracilis, 

 van Beneden, as the proboscis and its armature resemble somewhat closely 

 that author's figure in Plate V. of his work on the Fishes of the Coasts of 

 Belgium,* which species he also obtained in the intestine of Mugil chelo, 

 but I scarcely think that van Beneden's E. gracilis can be the species of 

 that name which Diesing ascribes to Eudolphi, for Diesing's definition of 

 Rudolphi's Echinorhynchus gracilis, is as follows : — " Proboscis cylindrica, 

 uncinorum minutorum seriebus, 10-12. Collum nullum. Corpus 

 cylinclricum retrorsum attenuatum," t and there is no reference to 

 transverse striae. Moreover, the Echinorhynchus gracilis, Eudolphi, is, 

 according to Diesing, found in the intestine of a bird, Coracias garrula, 

 Linn, et Gmel. I have, therefore, for the several reasons stated, referred 

 our specimens to Echinorhynchus agilis, Rudolphi. 



SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES. 



(1) ON A LARGE CESTODE FROM THE INTESTINES OF A COMMON PORPOISE. 



Diphyllobothrium stemmacephalum, Cobbold, PI. V., fig. 6 ; 

 PI. VII., fig. 1. 



1858. Diphyllobothrium stemmacephalum, Cobbold, Trans. 



Linn. Soc, vol. xvii., p. 167. 

 1879. Diphyllobothrium stemmacephalum, idem, Entozoa of 



Man and Animals, p. 422. 



This large Cestode was obtained in the intestines of a Common Porpoise, 

 Delphinus phoccena, cast ashore in front of the Laboratory at the Bay of 

 Nigg. The porpoise had become entangled in the nets belonging to the 

 salmon fishers, and being unable to extricate itself bad been drowned. 

 Dr. Cobbold, who described the Cestode in 1855, and who also obtained 

 it in the same species of Cetacean, states that " the small intestine of the 

 Porpoise was completely choked for the space of eight or nine feet by 

 fine tapeworms so closely packed together that the gut presented the 

 appearance of a solid cylinder." These tapeworms, he remarks, were of 

 various sizes ; four of them measured respectively from seven to ten feet in 

 length, while a fifth was only eighteen inches. 



The Porpoise cast ashore near the Laboratory, and which I had the 

 privilege to examine, had the small intestine also crowded with the same 

 kind of parasites, and so much so that it seemed to be impossible that any 

 matter could pass, yet the Cetacean had the appearance of being in perfect 

 health. The removal of the parasites in anything like a complete con- 

 dition was very difficult owing to their great length, their being so 

 crowded together, the extreme attenuation of the anterior end with its 



* Les Poissons des cotes de Belgique, p. 28, PI, V., fig. 7 (1870). 

 f Systema Helminthurn, vol, ii,, p. 37 (1850). 



