F. J. Meggitt 
268 
It is curious to note that, as far as could be ascertained, none of 
the characteristic symptoms of tapeworm disease were present, i.e. the 
birds were not specially thirsty or listless, the appetite was normal, 
blood and mucous were absent from the faeces, and there were no si^ns 
of intestinal catarrh : except for a rather pronounced thinness upon the 
breast, the birds were normal in every way. There has also been an 
entire absence of symptoms in birds which I have afterwards found to 
be infected with Davainea proglottina. It is possible, therefore, that the 
rather vague symptoms given by various authors (Stiles) were based 
upon extreme cases, and that in the normal course of events, especially 
vdth the smaller species of Cestodes, no such symptoms are to be 
expected. 
On the other hand, infection with common Nematodes such as 
Trichosoma collare, HeteraJcis vesiculare, and especially H. infiexa, 
produces pronounced symptoms agreeing in all respects with those 
attributed to Cestodes. 
A. sgAienoides, so far as I am aware, has hitherto not been recorded 
from Great Britain. It has been found in Germany (von Linstow), 
Lombardy (Grassi and Rovelli), Brazil (Magelhaes), and Maryland 
and Columbia, U.S.A. (Ransom). It is probably more common than is 
suspected : several times in dissecting fowls sent for examination, there 
have been found isolated proglottides resembhng those of A. sflienoides. 
On account of its small size, the head, when detached from the strobilus, 
is very difficult to see and thus, in the cases just referred to, has probably 
escaped detection. A more accurate examination of the intestines of 
ordinary fowls would, in all probabihty, show that these parasites, and 
tapeworms in general, are widely distributed throughout Great Britain. 
The work has been carried out in the Research Laboratory in Agri¬ 
cultural Zoology of the University of Birmingham, under the supervision 
of Prof. F. W. Gamble, F.R.S., to whom I am deeply indebted for many 
valuable suggestions and criticisms. 
Historical. 
The original description of this species was given by von Linstow, 
based chiefly upon external characters. It was next recorded by Piana 
from Italy, and later on by Magelhaes from Brazil : both these investi¬ 
gators, however, confined themselves to external characters and the more 
striking internal organs. Cohn (1901) was the first to give a true descrip¬ 
tion of the internal anatomy, a description accurate as far as it went, 
but still leaving many points to be elucidated. 
