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Gastrothylax hnhcdis 
Notes on the genus Gastrothylax. 
Creplin in 1847 discovered the first species of Gastrothylax, which 
he found in the stomach of the Zebu {Bos taurus indicus). He classed 
his parasite as Amphistonium (Rud.) crumenifer. G. (Amphistomum) 
crumenifer is therefore the first known species. In 1882, Poirier (1883) 
discovered two new helminths which he found did not agree completely 
with the characters of Amphistomum, and for these he created a new 
genus called Gastrothylax. The two parasites described by him were 
G. elongatus and G. cohholdi from the stomach of Palonia frontalis of 
Java. G. elongatus has since been found in Ceylon {Bos taurus) and 
there is one specimen in the Berlin museum from an African cow {Bos 
sp.). G. cohholdi has also been found in China (from Bos taurus). In 1896 
Looss, of Cairo, found a single example of a new species, G. gregarius, 
in Bos huhalis of Egypt. In 1898, Brandes described two other species, 
G. compressus and G. spatiosiis, from Bos taurus of Africa. Leiper (1908) 
quotes these as occurring, the former in Bos taurus indicus of India, and 
the latter in Bos taurus of Arabia. Fischoeder in 1901 drew up a new 
classification of the Amphistomidae (Montic. 1888). He changed the 
family name to Par amphistomidae, and divided it into two sub-families, 
Paramphistominae and Cladorchinae. The first of these was divided 
into three genera. Par amphistomum {Amp)histomum Rud.), Stephano- 
pharynx n.g., and Gastrothylax (Poirier, 1882). In the same paper he 
briefly describes three new species, G. synethes and G. mancupatus from 
Bos taiirus of East Africa ; and G. minutus from Antilope, sp. and the 
bush back {Tragelaphus scriptus) of the German Cameroons, Africa. The 
fullest account of the Paramphistomidae is given by Fischoeder (1903) 
in the Zoologische Jahrhilcher, where he gives a detailed description of 
all the known species. He also gives diagrams illustrating the position 
and relation of the genitalia of almost all the species of Gastrothylax. 
It should be noted that the distribution of this genus is as far as we 
know peculiarly restricted, for, with two exceptions— G. crimienifer and 
G. elongatus —all the species have been found as parasites of African 
ungulates. In some cases the same species has been described both 
from Javan and from Chinese cattle {e.g. G. cohholdi), and with three 
exceptions, it seems that the cow (Bos taurus) is the normal host of 
Gastrothylax. 
The genus Gastrothylax is unique in possessing a curious “belly- 
pouch” (Bauchtasche), ventral pocket or genital atrium, and this character 
