352 
Pseudo-Parasitism 
dejecta were examined. The specimens of the centipede showed very 
little signs of being digested, and it is almost impossible to reconcile the 
story of the patient with what one knows of the habits of the centipedes. 
It may however be mentioned that two species, G. maritimus and 
G. submarinus, lead a semi-aquatic life and Plateau states that these 
species can exist from twelve to seventy hours when immersed in sea¬ 
water and from six to ten days in fresh-water. “ They,” as Mr Sinclair 
writes, “ offer a striking example of the power their class possesses of 
existing under unfavourable circumstances.” 
Dr Theodore Thompson has kindly supplied the following clinical 
details : 
“ Examined by me July 1912, her tongue was dry and glazed and 
covered with dry blood. The fauces were dry and glazed. There was 
bleeding taking place from the nose and I saw a living centipede she 
had just extracted from her nostril. Her heart, lungs and abdomen 
appeared normal. She was not very wasted, and did not think she had 
lost much flesh, nor was there any marked degree of anaemia. 
“ Dr Sutton who has attended her for eighteen months says he has 
seen some hundreds of the centipedes during that time. The patient 
does not eat watercress but while in Scotland ate a lot of lettuces and 
fruit four years ago and thinks she got infected while there. 
“ Professor Glynn of Liverpool examined the blood and said it was 
normal. 
“ I did a differential count of a blood slide and counted 200 white 
cells. 
“Result. Proportion of white cells to red cells normal: no nucleated 
red cells seen: polynuclears 76°/o : lymphocytes 23 °/o : eosinophile 
cells 1 %•” 
(2) A few weeks ago an organism, slightly digested, was sent to 
me which had passed through the alimentary canal of a doctor. It 
had been identified as a Trematode, but it appeared to be a slug. 
I therefore sent it to Mr Collinge of Birmingham who tells me it is a 
specimen of Milax marginatus (Mtill.). It is difficult to understand how 
so soft a creature could pass through the alimentary canal without 
being digested, but in the Collinge collection of the Pulmonata in the 
Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge, there 
are specimens of an undetermined species of Veronicella which had 
passed through the intestine of a horse at Lagos. These slugs show 
even less signs of digestion than the Milax marginatus. 
