I^INGUATUIvA TiBNIOIDES. 



Degraded arachnida, with dwarfed legs like two pairs of hooks. Body ver- 

 miform, broadening to head, annulated, with denticulated rings ; larva and 

 mature form in different organs and species. Mature Linguatula Tcenio- 

 ides : Elongated, worm-like, lanceolate toward head, tail long, thin, flat- 

 tened, venter smooth, dorsum rounded ; 90 rings ; sharp, curved, retractile 

 oral hooks. Hosts : Nose and air chambers of head ; dog, fox, wolf, horse, 

 goat, sheep, ox. Ovulation : 500,000 eggs, sneezed out, are taken in with 

 food and water by herbivora. Embryo hatched in stomach, with protractile 

 stylet (rostrum') bores to lymph gland, becomes pupa, in 8 weeks nympha, 

 and finally a non-sexual larva. Larva {Linguatula Denticulatum), in 6 or 

 7 months, migrates to the peritoneum, pleura, lungs or bronchia and nose, 

 or host being eaten by carnivorous animal, they develop to maturity in its 

 nose. Common in Paris in butchers' and shepherd dogs, and in Roumanian 

 oxen. Symptoms of nasal linguatula : Sneezing, snuffling, rubbing nose, 

 cough, dyspnoea, choking, morose, snappish, epilepsy, delirium, epistaxis, 

 parasite in discharge. Treatment: Inject tepid water or benzine in oil. 

 Symptom,s of larva : Unnoticed or loss of condition. Prevention : Deny 

 raw offal to dogs ; treat sneezing dogs ; exclude dogs from sheep-pastures. 

 Other pentastomata. 



The genus linguatula (tongue-like) is a degraded form of 

 Arachnida, in which the legs have become rudimentary, being 

 represented by two pairs of hooks to the right and left of the 

 mouth ; the body is vermiform, broad toward the head and narrow 

 toward the tail, and annulated, each ring in the mature form being 

 dentated, the sharp, pointed teeth turned backward. The respira- 

 tion is cutaneous. The larvse and mature specimens occupy 

 different organs, usually different species of vertebrate hosts. 



Mature Linguatula Taenioides. This is a whitish, elongated 

 worm -like parasite, lanceolate in its anterior third, and prolonged 

 into a long attenuated tail, flattened from above downward, ven- 

 tral aspect plane, dorsal aspect well rounded, formed of about 90 

 rings giving a notched appearance to the lateral margins and a 

 moniUform aspect to the tail, mouth round or partly quadrangular, 

 oral hooks sharp, curved backward, in two segments and re- 

 tractile. The female is 2 to 2>^ inches long by 8 to 10 mm. 

 broad in its anterior part (2 mm. in tail). The male 18 to 20 

 mm. long, by 3 mm. broad in the anterior part (0.45 mm. in the 



tail.) 



Hosts of Mature Linguatula Taenioides. This inhabits 



215 



