DEACUNCULUS MEDINENSIS. 389 



described under the heading of Filaria lentis, I had independently 

 arrived at the conviction that the Loa was a totally distinct worm 

 from the Filaria oculi, described by Nordmann, Von Ammon, 

 Owen, and others. I follow Diesing, in placing this worm in the 

 genus Dracunculus, whilst I provisionally retain the native name 

 Loa for the specific title, as being more distinctive than the 

 one proposed by Diesing. Under the title of Filaria oculi, Moquin- 

 Tandon (in his " Zoologie Medicale ") speaks of certain minute 

 Filariae as "not uncommon in the negroes of the Angola Coast;" 

 and he gives other locahties where it occurs. These worms are 

 identical with those described by Guyot as dwelling beneath the 

 conjimctiva of negroes at Congo and in the Gaboon region 

 generally. The parasite in question is rather more than an inch 

 in length ; it is, we are told, termed Loa by the natives, who also 

 state that after a period of several years the worm voluntarily quits 

 the organ, and thus the disease becomes naturally cured. This 

 parasite, indeed, appears to enjoy a tolerably wide geographical 

 distribution, as it has been observed by Clot-Bey in a negress 

 who had come from the town of Monpox, situated on the banks of 

 the river Magdalena ; by Sigaud, who saw one in the eye of a 

 negress in Brazil ; by Blot at Martinique, who saw two in a negress 

 originally from Guiaea ; by Bajon, who met with one in a little 

 negro girl who had come from Guadeloupe ; by Mongin, who found 

 one in a negress who had been living in the Island of San 

 Domingo ; and by Lestrille, who removed one from beneath the 

 conjunctiva of a negro, who came from Gaboon. Those who desire 

 to look further into the subject should consult Davaine's treatise, 

 where they will find all the above-inentioned cases more or less 

 fully reported, together with several important extracts from the 

 writings of the eminent surgeon Guyot, who made several voyages 

 to the coast of Angola, and paid special attention to the eye- 

 diseases produced by this parasite. 



