Volume XIII 
AUGUST, 1921 
No. 3 
ON A NEW CESTODE FROM THE POUCHED RAT, 
CRICETOM YS GAMBIAN UAL 
By F. J. MEGGITT, M.Sc., Ph.D., 
Assistant Helminthologist, University of Birmingham. 
(From the Research Laboratory in Agricultural Zoology , 
University of Birmingham.) 
(With Plate IX.) 
The material of the species to be described was found in a small collection of 
parasites from Zanzibar, placed at my disposal by Professor G. H. F. Nuttall, 
F.R.S., to whom I wish to express my thanks. As only a few cestodes 
have hitherto been recorded from East Africa and its helminth fauna is there¬ 
fore largely unknown, a list of the forms identified is given at the end of 
the paper. I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Birmingham 
Natural History and Philosophical Society for a grant towards the expense 
of preparing the plates, both in this and the preceding paper {Parasitology, 
xiii. No. 1, March 1921, p. 1). 
The specimens of the new species were obtained from the duodenum of the 
pouched rat ( Cricetomys gaynbianum), and consist of five strobili, two with 
scoleces, and numerous fragments. The scolex (PL IX, fig. 3) is 0-5 mm. long 
x 0*66-0-75 mm. diameter, is furnished with a small apical depression devoid 
of any muscular structure and with four suckers, two dorsal and two ventral. 
These lie in pockets inside the scolex, opening to the exterior by a small 
orifice. The musculature of the sucker does not completely fill the pocket but 
leaves vacant near the opening a small non-muscular circle, sharply crinkled 
round the edges. Considerable difference of opinion exists upon the position 
of the suckers in this genus. According to Klaptocz (1906, 139) in I. gondo- 
korensis they are to be found inside the scolex at the bottom of long funnel- 
shaped pockets: this is true of I. hyracis , I. interpositus and /. setti according 
to von Janicki (1910, 394) and is cautiously confirmed by Bischofi (1913, 248) 
for his own species; “Auch alle.von mir untersuchten Arten von Inermi- 
capsifer wiesen teils mehr, teils weniger deutlich diese typischen Saugnapf- 
taschen auf.” On the other hand Beddard (1912, 578) states: “Nor could I 
detect anything peculiar in the structure of the suckers, which, according to 
Janicki and others, are remarkable for a funnel-like ingrowth leading to the 
actual sucker, which thus lies at the bottom of a depression. It is true that 
Parasitology xm 
