FILARIA BANCROFTI 



633 



3. There was a parasite called Spiroptem hominis Rudolphi, 1819, which 

 appears to have been spurious, being really Filaria communis, of which Filaria 

 piscium is a synonym. 



Filaria banerofti Cobbold, 1877. 



Synonyms. — Trichina cystica Salisbury, 1868, nec Rudolphi, 1819; 

 F. sanguinis hominis Lewis, 1872 ; F sanguinis hominis cegyptiaca 

 Sonsino, 1874; F. derntatemica da Silva Araiyo, 1875; F. wuchereri 

 da Silva Lima, 1877; F. sanguinis hominum Hall, 1885; F. sanguinis 

 hominum nocturna Manson, 1891 ; F. nocturna Manson, 1891. 



History, — -The Microfilaria was discovered in Paris by Demarquay 

 in August, 1863, in the chylocele fluid of a patient from Havana. 

 In 1866 Wucherer found it in Brazil in the urine of patients suffering 

 from chyluria. In 1872 Lewis made the important observation 

 that its true anatomical habitat is the blood. Bancroft, in 1876, 

 discovered the adult female form; Borne, in 1888, discovered the 

 adult male. In 1899 Manson discovered that the Microfilaria, on 

 disappearing from the peripheral circulation, resorted to the lungs 

 during the day-time. The parasite is spread by mosquitoes, as 

 discovered by Manson in 1878, who thought that the FilaricB 

 escaped from their insect hosts into water, and reached man by 

 this means. Later Bancroft conjectured that Filarice might be 

 inoculated directly into man, and about this time sent infected 

 mosquitoes to Manson in London. Bancroft's material was 

 investigated, at Manson's request, by Low, who discovered 

 that the Filarice migrate to the mouth-parts of their insect hosts 

 after a period of growth within the musculature. A little later, 

 independently, James made the same discovery in India. In 

 the meantime Grassi and Noe investigated the life- history of a 

 corresponding Filaria of the dog (D. immitis), and demonstrated 

 that it undergoes a similar development also in mosquitoes, choosing, 

 however, the Malpighian tubes instead of the thoracic muscles as 

 the seat of their development. Moreover, Grassi and Noe were 

 successful in inoculating normal dogs by means of mosquitoes fed 

 on infected dogs. Fiilleborn and Bahr have most carefully re- 

 studied the subject. 



Morphology — General Characters. — The worms are whitish in 

 colour, long, and filiform, with a smooth cuticle, and a globular 

 head terminating in a simple, circular, unarmed, lipless mouth. 

 The tail is rounded. 



Sexual Characters. — The male is smaller than the female, and a 

 complete specimen measures on the average 38 millimetres in length 

 and 0-12 millimetre in thickness. In the dead worm the tail is spiral 

 or much incurved, but may be straight during life, according to Mait- 

 land. The anus, which is 0-13 millimetre from the posterior 

 extremity, is guarded by two projecting lips. The anal papillae 

 are not easily defined, but are said to consist of three pairs of pre- 

 anal and three of post-anal papillae. Leiper has recently figured 

 fourteen pairs. 



