AGAMOFILARIA CONJUNCTIVE 



641 



into the thoracic muscles, where they develop. At first there is a decrease 

 in length from 0'^2 to 0-21 millimetre, but an increase in breadth from 0-0063 

 to o-oi millimetre. 



By the eighth day the Filaria has increased in length and breadth, and 

 shows an alimentary canal along its whole length. 



From this till the eleventh day the development is rapid, and the worm 

 now measures from 1-2 to i-6 millimetres in length by 0-04 to 0-02 milli- 

 metre in breadth, and has a mouth, oesophagus, chyle intestine, and an anus, 

 and the tail has three well-defined papillee. 



From- the eleventh to twelfth day the worms are found in the head, and 

 by the fourteenth to fifteenth day in the labium, lying side by side, with 

 their heads pointing forwards. 



Remarks. — -There appears to be every reason to consider this 

 microfilaria as merely the microfilaria of F. bancrofti Cobbold, 

 1877, because, as Low and Bahr have pointed out, they are 

 morphologically identical, while both nematodes live in the tissues 

 and are associated with the same pathological signs. Finally, the 

 same mosquito, Stegomyia pseudoscutellaris Theobald, 1910, is an 

 efficient host for both. Bahr suggests that the loss of periodicity is, 

 probably, a partial adaptation to the habits of the intermediary 

 host, S. pseudoscutellaris, which only feeds by day. This cor- 

 relationship between parasite and host Sambon has long insisted 

 upon, 



(Agamofilaria) Stiles, 1906. 



A purely collective group, made to contain agamic forms of 

 Filariid?e which have not yet reached a stage in their development 

 permitting their generic determination. 



Species. — {Agamofilaria) conjtmdiva Addario, 1885; {A), labialis 

 Pane, 1864; (A.) georgiana Stiles, 1906; {A.) oculi Diesing, 1851; 

 {A.) palpebralis Pace, 1867. 



(Agamofilaria) conjunctivse Addario, 1885. 



Synonyms.— peritonei hominis Babes, 1880; E. inerniis Grassi, 1887; 

 F. apapillocephala Condorelli Francaviglia, 1892. 



Remarks. — This worm was first discovered by Dubini in the eye of a man 

 in Milan, then by Babes in the gastro-splenic omentum of a woman in Buda- 

 pest, then by Vadela in the conjunctiva of a woman in Sicily. Perhaps 

 F. palpebralis Pace, 1867, and F. oculi humani van Nordmann belong to this 

 group. It is possible that the L. loa described in India was one of thesic 

 parasites. 



Morphology. — Several females are known. It is white in colour, and 

 measures 16 to 20 centimetres in length and 0-5 millimetre in breadth. The 

 cuticle is striated except just around the mouth, but there are neither papillae 

 nor lips. The anus is subterminal, and the vulva close behind the mouth. 

 There is a single vagina and a double uterus containing eggs and embryos. 



Graham Forbes has recently recorded a male specimen from, a soldier in 

 Macedonia. 



Life-History and Pathogenicity. — Intermediary is unknown. The worms 

 produce subcutaneous tumours. 



(Agamofilaria) labialis Pane, 1864. 



This parasite was extracted from a small pustule on the inner 

 surface of the upper lip of a person in Naples in 1864, and was not 

 again described until Pierantoni, in 1908, again found it occurring 



4? 



