120 J. B. CLELAND. 
in August, 1912, I had the opportunity of examining a 
specimen of E. norvegicus, submitted for routine plague 
examination, in which the stomach was much enlarged, its 
wall thickened, the serous coat corrugated and the mucous 
membrane papillated. The stomach was full of nematodes, 
at the time presumed to be the common Protospirura muris 
(Spiroptera obtusa), but in the light of Fibiger’s findings 
perhaps really Gongylonema neoplasticum. Sections of the 
affected parts showed portions of the worms embedded in 
the squamous epithelium, which was much thickened, and 
showed numerous marked cell-nests. This apparent can- 
cerous process, a squamous-celled epithelioma, appeared to 
be invading the deeper parts, but had not yet reached the 
muscular coat. Strange to say, the stomach of another rat, 
taken as a normal control, showed also, embedded in the 
keratinized squamous epithelium, portions of a nematode. 
Mention may be made here to an adenomatous condition 
of the stomach of a fowl, examined by us in 1910, in which 
we thought that the round worm, Dispharagus nasutus 
Rud., might have been a contributory cause of the lesion. 
Heptaticola hepatica Bancroft.—In Australia the livers 
of our two common rats, and sometimes that of the house 
mouse, show irregular whitish or yellowish spots or streaks. 
In these areas are found numerous ova with opercular plugs 
at each end. During examinations for the presence of 
plague, these pathological lesions may give rise to some 
suspicion of the presence of this disease. In 1893, in the 
Journal of this Society, Dr. T. L. Bancroft, under the 
title ‘‘On the Whip-worm of the Rat’s Liver,’’ described 
the worm responsible for these eggs as Trichocephalus hepa- 
ticus, and also dealt with the lesions present. As this ne- 
matode has been found in France, Italy, England (?) and 
the United States, as well as Australia, it is of special in- 
1 Bancroft, This Journal, Vol. XXVII., pp. 86-90, plates 7 and 8. 
