374 
Asccirids in the British Museum 
not deal with the systematic position or anatomy of the parasite, this 
being left to Dr Baird, whose diagnosis is appended to Murie’s paper. 
Stiles and Hassall, after examining some of Baird’s material, add 
the following remarks to Baird’s description: 
“All of the specimens are females, and on this account we are 
unable to definitely place the parasites. They are poorly preserved, 
but we were able to distinguish a dentigerous ridge on the lips; no 
intermediate lips were present; the cuticular bands measure 24 p, broad, 
and are apparently not provided with any finer striation; the oesophagus 
resembles the oesophagus described by Jagerskiold for A. simplex, 
oesophageal and intestinal caeca being absent.” 
These authors further state that they refrain from proposing a new 
name for the homonym A. bicolor Baird, as they doubt the validity 
of the species. 
Having made a careful re-examination of Baird’s original material, 
which is preserved in two bottles in the British Museum (Natural 
History), I am now able to give a fuller account of this form, and to 
substantiate Baird’s view that it is a distinct species. In the first 
place, I find myself in disagreement with the statement of Messrs 
Stiles and Hassall, that the material is poorly preserved. Both bottles 
contain a large number of specimens, in a sufficiently good state of 
preservation for all ordinary purposes. Moreover, contrary to Baird’s 
statement, males are present in fair proportion to the females. I have 
not, however, observed any with the spicules extended, and the tail of 
the male is not always closely curled, so that these two facts may perhaps 
account for the erroneous statement that males were absent. The 
average size of the females is considerably larger than that of the males, 
the largest specimen measuring about 9-5 cm. in length. In thickness 
the specimens (disregarding obviously immature individuals) measure 
from 1-5 to 2-5 mm. The anterior end is very slender and tapering, 
the posterior end considerably thicker, until it rather rapidly diminishes 
towards the tip. The “brownish colour” of the body, mentioned by 
Baird, is due to the deep colour of the chyle-intestine. Anteriorly, in 
the oesophageal region, this colour is absent. 
The cuticle is very sharply marked out into transverse bands from 
25p, to 50p. in width, the posterior edges of the bands projecting in 
such a way as to present, in a profile view, an appearance much like 
minute saw teeth, or the hinder angles of the segments of some cestodes. 
This has been remarked upon by Baird (vide supra), but his figure 
(1868, Fig. B) does not convey the appearance at all clearly. These 
