86 THOMAS L. BANCROFT. 
A handsome, neat, compact growing tree, distinguished from all 
other New South Wales species of the genus by the pear-shaped 
bright red fruits. 
ON THE WHIP-WORM OF THE RAT’S LIVER. 
By Tuos. L. Banorort, u.s. Ldin. 
[With Plates VII. and VIII. | 
Communicated by J. H. Maiden, F...s., &e. 
[ Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, June 7, 1898. | 
Ear.y in 1891, masses of worm eggs were discovered in the liver 
of the common rat; to the naked eye they appeared like the 
psorospermal nodules of Cocctdium oviforme. Almost every rat 
had its liver so affected, even individuals of two months old 
were not exempt. White rats in my possession were free from 
this parasite, which was a fortunate circumstance, allowing of feed- 
ing experiments to be made upon them with the prospect of 
following the worm through its different stages. At an early 
period of this investigation no parent worms were found in the 
livers. Livers containing eggs were given to white rats and were 
eaten by them; their dung afterwards contained the eggs unchanged. 
Several months later these rats were killed, and search made for 
the parasite, but no trace of it could be found; evidently some 
further development of the egg was needed. Healthy rats living 
with affected ones in cages do not contract the disease. 
On April 2nd, 1891, some egg masses were put into water and 
examined microscopically every few days, but up to three months, 
when the experiment was abandoned for a time, no change had 
manifested itself. No further examination was made until on 
July 6th, 1892 ; the yelk substance was then seen to have differ- 
