Intestinal Helminths in Indians 
96 
The percentages for some of the commoner parasites, e.g. Ascaris lumbri- 
coides, seem very low; this is due, partly, as explained above, to the technique 
employed and partly, no doubt, to the fact that the majority of the individuals 
examined were hospital patients who had already undergone some form of 
treatment. Even after allowance is made for these factors the infections are 
not heavy as compared with those of natives examined in India (cf. Clayton 
Lane, 1916); a similar series of Turkish prisoners of war examined by precisely 
the same methods gave me a percentage of 22*2 for Ascaris, i.e. more than 
four times that in Indians in Mesopotamia. 
The two hookworms are considered together, since the eggs of Agchylo- 
stoma and Necator are difficult to distinguish with any certainty unless large 
series of measurements are made, both worms were however frequently re¬ 
covered after the administration of' vermifuges. Necator seemed rather more 
common than Agchylostoma and my records of the egg measurements show 
the relative abundance of the two forms to be as 4: 3. 
The eggs identified as those of Trichostrongylus measured 80-99 microns 
in length and when passed in the faeces were in a late v£ morula” stage, i.e. 
in a much later stage of development than those of the hookworms; they 
resembled in every respect the eggs of species of Trichostrongylus with which 
I was familiar in domestic animals. The extreme measurements of the ova 
are slightly in excess of those given by various authors for the different species 
of this genus, the latter measurements are however seemingly based on eggs 
taken from the uteri. I have frequently noted in various Strongyles that 
measurements of ova from faeces are often greater than those of ova taken 
from the maternal tissues. 
The parent worms were unfortunately never recovered after the admin¬ 
istration of vermifuges, in spite of several attempts. 
Trichostrongylus ova were also frequently observed in the faeces of Kurdish 
and Persian coolies employed in various labour corps in Mesopotamia. 
Until recently three species of Trichostrongylus (T. colubriformis, T. 
vitrinus and T. jprobolurus) had been recorded by Looss (1905) as occasional 
parasites of man in Egypt; in 1914, however, Jimbo described a fourth species, 
T. orientalis, found in a large percentage of cadavers examined by him in 
Japan; as suggested by Ransom (1916) the various species of this genus are 
probably much commoner parasites of man than is generally supposed and 
their distribution in man will no doubt be greatly extended as increased em¬ 
phasis is laid upon laboratory methods in medical diagnosis. 
Hymenolepis nana is another parasite to which I desire to call particular 
attention. As shown in the table, it was the commonest Tapeworm met with 
in Indians. The occurrence of this species is, I understand, well known to 
many medical men working in India, it is a fact however which for some 
reason or other has not found its way into the text-books on Parasitology and 
Tropical Medicine; even in the more recent editions and the newer works 
(e.g. Fantham, Stephens and Theobald, 1916) the distribution of this parasite 
