ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
371 
parasitism as they have. The most remarkable peculiarity of the larva 
of Gordius is the very precocious development of the genital organs. 
Life-history of Filaria papillosa.*— Herr Deupser has made many 
endeavours to trace the life-history of this Nematode parasitic in the 
serous cavities of the horse and ox. As yet little success has attended 
his experiments, except that he found small forms in most respects like 
the embryos of F. papillosa living in the blood of the horse. In 1849, 
Wedel also found Filaria in the horse’s blood, but of this Deupser was 
unaware until after he had discovered the fact independently. Deupser 
also found that the horse’s blood was the medium in which the embryos of 
F. papillosa could be kept alive for the longest time, and he succeeded in 
finding them in the blood of rabbits, into whose abdominal cavity he had 
introduced several pregnant females. Therefore, it seems that F. papillosa 
resembles F. Bancrofti, F. attenuata, and F. tricuspis, but no clue as to 
the intermediate host was found. 
Monograph of Dispharagus.f — Dr. M. Stossich has a monograph of 
this genus of Nematodes which he divides into a group (containing two 
species) with an armed body, and a group of twenty-four species, which 
are spineless. Nine species require further investigation. All the 
known forms live in the oesophagus and stomach of Birds. 
Strongylus rubidus.J — Mr. A. Hassall and Dr. C. W. Stiles give an 
account of a small nematode which has lately been found, sometimes in 
great abundance, in the stomachs of pigs slaughtered at Washington. 
The male is 5 mm., the female 8 to 8 • 5 mm. long. When present in large 
numbers there was an excess of thick mucus in the stomach. 
Nephridia of Acanthocephala.§ — Dr. J. Kaiser has directed his 
attention to the two disc-shaped bodies connected with the dorsal liga- 
ment, not far from the genital orifice, in Echinorhynchus gigas. By 
carefully removing them, together with the uterine bell, from the body of 
a female of this species, and examining in a drop of the coelomic fluid, 
he was able to detect the undulation of a broad ciliary flame in each of 
the numerous cylindrical terminal pieces of this enigmatical organ. 
The flames are composed of a large number of parallel, thin cilia, and 
are in a state of constant undulation. There can be no doubt as to the 
ncpbridial function of the organs in question ; in connection with the 
three vascular spaces which rise in the walls of the bell they form an 
excretory organ, which is adapted to remove nitrogenous waste, and to 
pass it from the coelom into the uterus. By the contraction of the 
uterine tube the waste matters are passed to the exterior. 
The author calls attention to the resemblances which these organs 
offer to the nephridia of the Platyhelminthes. Branched nephridial 
canals are not only found in the Nemertinea, but also in the head-kidneys 
of the larva of Polygordius and Echini ; the permanent nephridia of 
Bonellia may be put in the same category, and the author thinks that 
the excretory tubes of Acanthocephala may be more easily derived from 
* Zool. Anzeig., xv. (1892) pp. 129-31. 
t Boll. Soc. Adriat. Sci Nat. Trieste, xiii. (1891) 3 pis. See Centralbl. f. Buk- 
teriol. u. Parasitenk., xi. (1892) pp. 448-9. 
X Journal Comp. Medicine and Veterinary Archives, April 1892, 3 pp. (3 figs.) 
(sep. copy). § Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., xi. (1892) pp. 44-9. 
2 D 2 
