FILABIA TRACH.EALIS. 333 



"whicli have been advanced, 1 agree with Kiichenmeister in con- 

 cluding that the nematodes, in question, were quite immature. 



? 24. FiLARXA TRACHEALIS. 



Nematoideum tracheale, Rainey and Bristowe. 



In this place, it seems to me appropriate to notice briefly 

 the filaria-Hke nematode described by Bristowe and Rainey in the 

 "Pathological Society's Transactions" for 1855. This miaute 

 parasite evidently represents only a very juvenile stage of the larval 

 development of some particular species of round-worm. To what 

 specific form it may belong we cannot state with any degree of cer- 

 tainty ; but on comparing its characters with those displayed by 

 the young of Ascaris megalocephala of the horse, one might not be 

 far wrong in conjecturing that it may be referable either to this 

 species or, possibly, to the closely-allied Ascaris suilla of the hog. 

 From the record above cited, it appears that Rainey discovered a 

 considerable number of these worms in the trachea and larynx of a 

 person who died from a disease affecting the lower extremities. 

 As the parasites only measured about the i of an iach each, it is 

 scarcely probable that they had occasioned the otherwise unfortu- 

 nate bearer any appreciable inconvenience. 



Nematoideum not being a recognized genus, I have provisionally 

 placed this larval round- worm among the Filarise. 



