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A MOEPHOLOGICAL STUDY OF STBONGYLUS DOUGLASI, 
COBBOLD. 
By Eaffaele Issel, D.Sc, of the University of Genova (Italy). 
(Communicated by Dr. H. Bayon.) 
(Bead August 19, 1914.) 
Strongylus douglasi, Cobbold, is an intestinal parasite of considerable 
practical interest, in view of the mortality it causes among the ostrich 
chicks in South Africa. I therefore gladly undertook to publish a 
description of the morphology of this helminth on material which was 
collected and forwarded to me by Dr. Bayon, Research Bacteriologist 
(Leprosy) to the Government of the Union. 
What has so far been published on this worm is very soon reviewed, 
Cobbold (1883) described it for the first time from specimens which had 
been sent to him by Mr. Arthur Douglas, of Heatherton Towers, near 
Graharastown. The paper begins with a brief diagnosis, and continues 
with a superficial description which takes into consideration only the 
genital apparatus, which of course is the most important feature from 
the point of view of classification. The engraving which accompanies the 
paper only furnishes us with the particulars necessary to determine the 
species, but gives no exact details regarding several important points, as 
e.g. the male spiculae and, as to be expected from a drawing made 
relatively long ago, does not come up to modern helminthological 
standards. 
W. Robertson (1910) published some notes on the Strongylus from the 
veterinary point of view, with a sketch of the male and female of the 
species. Unfortunately this drawing has no scientific value because it is 
simply a somewhat scanty reproduction of Cobbold's plate. 
It is intended in this study to give a simple description from the 
helminthological point of view of the characteristic features of the 
Strongylus of the ostrich, but somewhat more completely than had been 
done by Cobbold, and to add some details regarding its inner structure 
which had been overlooked by previous authors. 
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