359 
FI LARI A VOLVULUS LEUCKART, ITS DISTRIBUTION, 
STRUCTURE AND PATHOLOGICAL EFFECTS. 
By ALLAN C. PARSONS, W.A.M.S., M.R.C.S. Eng., L.R.O.P. Lond. 
Med. Officer Northern Nigeria. 
(From the Helminthological Laboratory, London School of 
Tropical Medicine.) 
(One Figure.) 
Although Filaria volvulus was first described by Leuckart in 1893, 
very little was known or taught of this particular nematode when, 
ten years later, I became a government official in Northern Nigeria. 
While other members of the Filaridae have received a good deal of 
attention during the present decade, Filaria volvulus seems to have 
been compai-atively ignored. I am inclined to think, however, that this 
Filaria is far more common in certain parts of Africa than is generally 
supposed; and, by publishing the cases that have come under my 
notice, I hope that something may be added to our knowledge of the 
obscure disease it causes and that other workers will become interested 
in the subject. Up to the present time I have seen five cases, and 
all of these came under observation at Lokoja—a large government 
station in Northern Nigeria, situated at the confluence of the Niger 
and Benue rivers. To my knowledge this is the first time that cases of 
Filaria volvulus have been reported from Northern Nigeria. 
Literature. To Leuckart belongs the honour of first describing and 
naming this filaria. His material was supplied him, by a German 
Missionary, from the Gold Coast. Six years later Labadie-Lagrave 
and Deguy (1899) described a young female worm found in the case of 
a French soldier who had been quartered in Tonquin. Subsequently 
Brumpt (1904) added to our knowledge of this worm : he also considered 
that F. volvulus is a common parasite in certain inland districts of 
Parasitology i 23 
