38 



Bots: — In the stomacli of both the Indian and African 

 Elephant have been found larvae of the Gadfly, known as " Bots", 

 familiar to most of us as occurring also in the horse. {The Bot of 

 the elephant is however specifically distinct from that of the 

 Horse, the former is the larger being sometimes 1 inch in 

 length. I found that they when removed fi-om the membrane 

 of the stomach struggled violently and several grasped my 

 finger firmly with their hooklets. We cannot attribute any 

 clinical importance to these parasitic grubs, which are technically 

 known as Gaslrophilus ehphantis, andDr. Cobbold thinks it "not 

 improbable that the ova in question (those which we have 

 already mentioned as found on the tusks) have been deposited 

 by the mature fly of this gastrophilus." 



APPENDIX, 1 : ON THE BILIAKY APPARATUS. 



The Liver of the mature elephant weighs about 52 lbs., it is 

 simple in its outline, less broken up than that of the horse, and 

 we have observed that the umhilical vein ends in the vena portce. 

 There is no gall bladder, but the simple excretory tube dilates 

 into a sacculated pouch where it opens into the Small Bowel, and 

 into this pouch the pancreatic duct opens: parasites are some- 

 times found in this dilatation. 



The parasitical larv« of a tapeworm of the dog, known 

 commonly as Hydatids, technically as Echinococci, have been 

 observed in the liver and lungs of the elephant on post- 

 mortem examination. They are white tumours either on the 

 surface or in the substance of the organ, from which, when 

 they are cut into, forcibly escapes an opalescent fluid in 

 which examination under the microscope enables us to detect 

 tapeworm heads. They do not, apparently, interfere with the 

 health of the elephant but liver or lungs containing them should 

 always be burnt. 



Hepatitis or Inflammation of the Liver generally assumes a 

 chronic form in the Elephant, but (as a case of abscess in the Liver 

 of the Elephant recorded in the Veterinarian, 1877, p. 762, shows) 

 is occasionally acute. AVhen, with subacute fever, the bowels are 

 very irregular, the dung dry and dark coloured, the urine high- 

 coloured and scanty, the respirations laboured, and the patient rest- 

 less and sleepless, and the abdomen distended, this disorder may 

 be diagnosed. Gilchrist says " On the whole, the existence of 



