231 



Onchocerciasis of Queensland Cattle. 



By Professor T. Harvey Johnston, M.A., D.Sc, 

 University, Brisbane. 



(Communicated by Professor Cleland, M.D.) 



[Read October 13, 1921.] 



In the present paper no less than three distinct species 

 of Onchocerca are recorded as parasites of the connective 

 tissues of Queensland cattle, viz., 0. gibsoni, Cleland and 

 Johnston; 0. gutturosa, Neumann; and 0. lienalis, Stiles. 

 A reference is also made to 0. fasciata, Railliet and Henry, 

 which infests camels. 



Onchocerca gutturosa, Neumann, 1910. 

 Figs. 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 25. 



In a recent paper (Johnston and Bancroft, 1920a, p. 40) 

 it was pointed out that, in addition to the well-known 

 nodule-producing worm, Onchocerca gibsoni, a second species 

 of the genus was to be met with in cattle in Queensland and 

 New South Wales. It was provisionally identified as 0. 

 bovis, but shortly afterwards (J. and B., 1920b), in a sum- 

 mary of that paper, it was definitely labelled as belonging 

 to Piettre's species. 



In Australian cattle the parasite is to be found in the 

 neck ligament between the first and fifth dorsal vertebrae; 

 also at the level of the trochanter between the ends of the 

 tendons which are attached in that region. The tendons 

 at the stifle joint are also at times infected. Though a 

 fibrosis is set up as a result of the presence of the parasite, 

 yet the lesions are usually not extensive and do not assume 

 the nodular form, so typical of 0. gibsoni and 0. indica. 

 The worms occur more or less tangled lying in a fibrous 

 tunnel, and considerable lengths of the female may be ex- 

 tracted from the surrounding fibrosed tissue before breaking 

 takes place. Males lie loosely coiled or tangled in spaces 

 adjacent to the females, or at a little distance, and can 

 readily be obtained entire. Disintegrating worms under- 

 going calcification may be met with. 



The writer has been informed that the parasite may be 

 found in a very large percentage of cattle slaughtered at the 

 Abattoirs in Brisbane and Rockhampton, so that it is, 

 probably, very widely distributed in Queensland. It 

 occurs, not uncommonly, in cattle slaughtered in Sydney. 

 Mr. N. V. Brown, to whom I am indebted for specimens and 

 information, informed me that he had not observed it in 



