276 
Life-history of Moniezia 
OBSERVATIONS ON THE OCCURRENCE OF MONIEZIA 
IN THE ROMAN CAMPAGNA. 
When in Rome I was able to make a few observations on the occurrence 
of tapeworm in this area which may prove of interest. At the outset I was 
inclined to think that the disease would be of relatively rare occurrence on 
the wide and rough pastures in the neighbourhood of Rome. The contrary 
proved to be the case. 
So far as my inquiries went there was relatively little infection on the 
mountain pastures and sheep walks in Wales, and the explanation of this I 
took to be that the rough nature of the pasture and the wide area over which 
the sheep roam would mean that the eggs were less likely to be encountered 
by a fresh host. The same argument might reasonably be considered applicable 
to the Roman Campagna. The following fact, however, destroys the analogy. 
The flocks in the Campagna are large (two or three hundred head or more) 
and though they pasture over large areas under the care of a shepherd, they are 
regularly rounded-up at night and closely folded until well on in the following 
morning. In order to discover whether infection exists it is only necessary to 
visit the spots where the animals have spent the night and where quantities 
of faeces have collected. Except in one or two cases, lambs of two, three and 
four months old were always found to be infected. There is thus ample scope 
for infection, either directly, or by means of an intermediate host. Even if 
infection does not occur at the time (owing, say, to the period of the flock’s 
stay being too short to allow of infection by means of an intermediate host), 
nevertheless these areas, being literally saturated with eggs, may well serve 
as centres of infection which the sheep will be almost bound sooner or later 
to cross again. 
The same ideas regarding the conditions of infection prevail as in England, 
viz. there is a marked tendency to associate it with wet pastures. I have always 
tried to resist an undue bias in this direction since the judgment seems to be 
based on the general tendency to connect all ailments, human and otherwise, 
with damp situations and is not the result of observation. There was no 
difficulty in obtaining evidence of infection from wet localities, but I had great 
trouble in persuading the laboratory attendant who was helping me to accom¬ 
pany me to a portion of the Campagna which could be regarded as really dry. 
On our first visit to such a district we found a large flock of lambs about four 
months old to be infected. Unfortunately, it is extremely hazardous to draw 
any conclusions from this fact as the flocks in the Campagna are continually 
being moved about, so that the spot at which one finds evidence of infection 
at any particular moment may be at a considerable distance from the one 
where infection was contracted. Lambing in the Campagna takes place as 
soon as the sheep return from the hills, i.e. September, and continues until 
January and to a certain extent until February. It was, unfortunately, quite , 
impossible to get the history of any one flock and to keep in touch with it, 
