( 165 ) 



X. — On a New Species of Pentastomum (P. protelis), from the Mesentery oj 

 Proteles cristatus ; with an Account of its Anatomy. By W. E. Hoyle, 

 M.A. (Oxon.), M.R.C.S., Naturalist to the "Challenger" Commission. 

 (Plates XXVII. and XXVIII.) 



(Read June 4, 1883.) 



For the parasites which form the subject of the present communication, I 

 am indebted to my friend Professor Morrison Watson, who found them in a 

 male specimen of Proteles cristatus, Sparrman, of whose myology he has since 

 published an account. * Before entering upon a description of the entozoon, it 

 may be allowable to say a word or two with respect to its host, which is not 

 an animal of everyday occurrence. It was first described a little more than a 

 century ago by SPARRMAN,t the Swedish traveller, as occurring in South Africa, 

 where it is known to the farmers as the " grey jackal " ; he gave it the name 

 Viverra cristata. The only point in his description of any present interest is 

 that its stomach " had nothing but ants in it, or to speak more properly, the 

 white termites" which might be a valuable hint for any one who had the will 

 and opportunity to investigate the life history of the parasite before us. 



Since the time of Sparrman, it was erected into a separate genus by 

 Geoffroy St Hilaire, and the name Proteles was chosen as expressing the fact 

 that its anterior extremities were each provided with five, or the perfect 

 number, of toes. It is now generally regarded as a type intermediate between 

 the Hyamidae and Viverridae, its appearance when alive being strikingly like 

 that of small hyama.J 



The animal dissected by Professor Watson remained some days before the 

 abdomen was opened, a circumstance which affected very prejudicially the 

 histological preservation of its inhabitants, and made me hesitate for some time 

 as to whether it would be worth while to attempt a complete account of the 

 creature's anatomy ; however, in consideration of the rarity of the specimens, it 

 was resolved to make the effort, and the result has been the discovery of some 

 interesting anatomical relations, although the account of the minute structure 

 is in many particulars less complete than it would otherwise have been. 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. Lund , p. 579, 1882. 



t Sparrman, Andrew, M.D., A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, Sfc. Translated from the 

 Swedish original, London, 178G, vol. ii. p. 177. 



% Flower, Proc. Zool. Soc. Land., p. 474, 1869. 



VOL. XXXII. PART I. 2 E 



