62 SANITARY ENTOMOLOGY 



same author (1918) in the esophagus of the mongoose (Herpestes 

 ichneumon). This author identifies certain encysted larval nematodes 

 found in a species of Onthophagus, in Blatta orientalis, in Blaps strauchi, 

 and in Blaps sp. (near appendicidata) as belonging to S. gastrophila. 

 He thinks the parasites found in the cockroach and called Filaria ryti- 

 pleurites by Deslohgchamps (1824), and those identified as such by Galeb 

 (1878) who associated them with an insufficiently described adult 

 nematode of the rat, are probably the same as those he identified as the 

 larvse of S. gastrophila. He also dismisses Grassi's experiments as insuffi- 

 cient to show that the nematodes encysted in cockroaches are the larvae 

 of Spirocerca san^uinolenta as Grassi believed, and concludes that Grassi 

 was mistaken and was really dealing with the larvae of Spirura gastrophila. 

 Seurat (1919) adds Akis goryi to the list of insect hosts of the larvse of 

 S. gastrophila. 



Gongylonema scutatum (Mueller, 1869) Railliet, 1892 



This nematode in the adult stage is a common parasite in the mucous 

 membrane of the esophagus of cattle, sheep, and other ruminants, and 

 has also been recorded from the horse. Ransom and Hall (1915, 1916, 

 1917) have shown that various species of dung beetles (Aphodius 

 femoralis, A. gramarms, A. fimetarvus, A. coloradensis, A. vittatus, 

 Onthophagus hecate, and 0. pennsylvanicus ) act as intermediate hosts. 

 Experimentally, cockroaches (Blattella germanica) can also be made to 

 serve as intermediate hosts, a part of course which they do not play 

 under natural conditions. The eggs^of the parasite pass out of the body 

 of the definitive host in the feces and are swallowed by dung beetles. They 

 hatch in these insects, and the larvae entering the body cavity undergo a 

 certain growth and development, reaching their infective stage in about 

 a month, meanwhile becoming enveloped in capsules in which they lie in 

 a coiled-up position. Further development waits upon the swallowing of 

 the infested insect by a cow, sheep, or other suitable host as may readily 

 occur while the animal is grazing, the insect being ingested with the herb- 

 age upon which it happens to be. Following their ingestion by the defini- 

 tive host, the larvae are released from their capsules and develop to matur- 

 ity. Seurat (1916) has described some larval nematodes from the abdom- 

 inal cavity of Blaps strauchi, Blaps appendiculata, and Blaps sp. (near 

 appendiculata) in Algeria that he identifies as Gongylonema .scutatum. 

 As pointed out by Ransom and Hall (1917), however, these evidently 

 belong to another species as they do not correspond to the forms shown 

 by these writers to be the larvae of G. scutatum. Seurat (1919) adds 

 Blaps emondi to the list of insects in which he has found the larvse 

 in question. 



