PROTEOCEPHALUS GALL AUDI. 
A NEW CESTODE FROM THE BLACK SNAKE. 
By T. HARVEY JOHNSTON, M.A., D.Se. 
Biological Department, University, Brisbane. 
The Black Snake, Pseudechis porphyriacus, Shaw, is not infre- 
quently the host of a number of species of parasites, amongst them 
being a- hsemogregarine, Hcemogregarina pseudechis, Jnstn.,* 
found in the red-blood corpuscles ; a pentastome, Porocephalus 
teretiusculus, Baird,f infesting the lungs ; a nematode, Physalop- 
tera sp., which lives in the stomach and duodenum ; Echinorhyn- 
cJms sp.,| found very commonly in the rectum; and a tapeworm 
previously recorded as Ichthyotcenia sp.,§ and now described as 
Proteoceph alus gallardi. 
Hall || has recently shown that the generic name Proteoceplialus 
has priority over Ichthyotcenia ; consequently I have adopted the 
former designation, in preference to the latter, though it is under 
Ichthyotcenia that practically all of the species have been placed. 
I have examined specimens of this cestode collected from the 
abovenamed snake in various parts of New South Wales and 
Victoria. The longest individual measures 40 cm. in length, its 
maximum breadth reaching 1.7 mm. Its anterior third is white, 
the remainder being yellowish with a dark-grey dendritic figure in 
each segment, the marking being due to the colour and form of 
the egg-laden uterus showing through the overlying tissues. The 
posterior third of this strobila contained ripe eggs, the eggs in the 
* Johnston, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales xxxiv, 1909, p. 406 (N.S.W.) 
f Spencer, Q.J. M.S. xxxiv, 1892-3, p. 1, etc. (Vict, and King Is.); Proc. Roy, 
Soc. Vict, i (n.s.) 1888, p. 110 (King Is.) 
Shipley, Arch. d. Parasitol. i 1898, p. 77. 
Johnston, Jour. Proc. Roy. Soc. N.S.W. 1910, p. xvii. (N.S.W.) 
% Johnston, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales 1909, p. 590 (N.S.W.) 
§ Johnston, Jour. Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales 1910, p. xi (N.S.W., Vict.), and 
p. xviii (Victoria). 
|| Hall, Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum xxxix, 1910, p. 146-8. 
