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Ascaris vitulorum Goeze 
The specimens from the Punjab fail to agree in two of the most important 
of these specific characters, namely the absence of cephalic papillae on the 
lips and postanal papillae on the male tail, the worms studied by me possessing 
distinct papillae on the lips in much the same position as in A. lumbricoides, 
the male individuals also bearing genital papillae behind the cloaca. 
These, together with other less important points of difference 1 , led me to 
believe that the worms from the Indian buffalo would prove specifically 
distinct from A . vitulorum from Bos taurus ; I was, however, fortunately able 
to compare the Punjab material with some Ascarids from ordinary cattle 
collected by Mr H. E. Hornby in Northern Rhodesia, these proved to agree 
in all essential respects with the Indian form. I have not been able to obtain 
any Ascarids from cattle in England, further study will therefore be necessary 
to settle the questions as to whether the European form is identical with that 
from Indian and African sources, and whether the discrepancies are due to 
errors of observation on the part of Neumann or not. 
The following account of A. vitulorum is based solely on the material from 
the Punjab and from Northern Rhodesia. 
Ascaris vitulorum Goeze, 1782. 
Ascaris vituli Gmelin, 1790 (in part). 
Length, male, 17*5 to 21 cm.; female, 21 to 27 cm. Thickness, male, 
4 to 5 mm.; female, 6 mm. Body colourless in spirit material, tapering at both 
extremities. Body-wall thin and somewhat translucent. 
Cuticle with transverse striations about 0*05 mm. apart. 
Head small, 0-7 to 0*95 mm. broad, there are three simple lips, without 
interlabia. The shape of the lips is as described by Neumann, each consisting 
of a broad basal region and a much narrower distal region, the latter with a 
slightly emarginate anterior border. 
Dorsal lip 0-45 to 0-6 mm. broad, 0-32 to 0*47 mm. long; bearing two nearly 
circular, flattened papillae on the basal portion (Text-fig. 1). Ventral lips 
slightly narrower than the dorsal lip, each bearing a single papilla. The pulp 
of each lip is divided anteriorly into two lobes. Dentigerous ridges well 
developed, with strong teeth, 0*06 to 0-075 mm. apart. 
Oesophagus considerably shorter than in allied species 2 , 3 to 4-5 mm. in 
length, divided into two regions, the anterior muscular and club-shaped with 
a maximum thickness of 0-8 to 0-9 mm., the posterior region in the nature of 
a ‘ ventriculus,’ 0-45 to 0-6 mm. long and 0-5 to 0-8 mm. broad. The walls of 
the ventricular region are largely granular in structure. 
Male. Posterior extremity slightly curved ventrally. Caudal region with 
ventral surface distinctly flattened and terminating in a small mucronate’ 
1 e.g. the more forward position of the vulva in the female. 
In A. lumbricoides from the pig the oesophagus has a length of about 9 mm. 
