The Sclerostome Worms of the Horse. 



23 



any effect upon haematozoa. In future cases where equinum 

 is suspected in the vascular system, I propose experiment- 

 ing- with chinosol, a preparation used in the army 

 hospitals as a disinfectant both by surgeons and veterinary 

 surgeons in India and Egypt. I have tried it for a persistent 

 form of " thrush " in horses with marked results, after all 

 other treatment has failed. The value of chinosol was pointed 

 out to me by Capt. Kerr, V.C. 



Tetracanthum apparently does not enter the blood. The 

 eggs are introduced into the host with water, and possibhr 

 forage, and give rise to the embryos, which encyst direct in 

 the walls of the gut, generally the c^cum and colon, where- 

 they are said to form tumours similar to those formed by 

 equinum. Here, tying in the cysts, the white coiled worms 

 produce inflammation of the intestine, colics, and serious and 

 fatal anaemia. When mature the v/orms make their exit 

 out of the cyst by an aperture at the summit, and live 

 free in the intestinal contents, usually in copula. This is 

 briefly the life-history/ of the white sclerostome described 

 by Dies and figured by Schneider. These I have found 

 only on two occasions, and they were larger in size than the 

 abundant red one, and these white worms I take to be the true 

 tetracanthum. Those obtained were expelled by Thymol. 



Rtibru??i is very similar to the above, and, from experi- 

 ments conducted, they have evidently a similar life-history. 

 They develop direct. The ova hatched out in from five to six 

 days after expulsion, when put in a .2 per cent, solution of 

 hydrochloric acid at the ordinary body temperature (of horse). 

 The eggs segment in the uterus of the female, and are laid 

 Avhilst the worms are in the intestines. The embryos and 

 ova are obtained in polluted drinking-water and from the grass 

 in the meadows and paddocks where infected horses have been 

 kept. The young embryos form cystic tumours similar to" 

 tetracanthum and equinum, from which they escape into the 

 intestinal contents as red worms, sexually mature. I at 

 first thought these small red worms might be immature 

 equinum, but later they were all found sexually mature. 

 The details of this species are given in the Journal of the 

 South-Eastern Agricultural College. 



