ON PARASITES OF THE ASS. 
73 
Summary of the above Table. 
Total number of animals examined . 
Strongylus armatus in anterior mesenteric artery 
31 
30 
10 
1 
5 
5 
1 
1 
1 
10 
3 
5 
2 
3 
in bowel cavity and walls 
in peritoneal sac . 
Strongylus tetracanthus . 
Strongylus mircrurus 
Spiroptera ? 
Filaria papillosa 
Ascaris megalocephala 
Taenia perfoliata 
Echinococcus veterinorum 
[Cystoids and Cysticercoid nodule] 
Fasciola hepatica 
(Estrus equi .... 
Observations. —It will be noted that only one animal 
seemed entirely free from parasites, and, considering the 
little attention asses in general receive in the matters of 
food and shelter, we can hardly wonder at this result. The 
most frequent parasite by far is Strongylus armatus; for, 
while its presence in the anterior mesenteric artery is almost 
a foregone conclusion, its presence in a more mature 
condition in the bowel cavity is common. The case in 
which the parasite had attained its maturity in the peritoneal 
sac was interesting on account of the large size of the 
specimen. With regard to the morbid lesions produced by 
the presence of this species of Entozoon, in several cases 
not only the main anterior mesenteric trunk was affected, 
but we noted extensive disease of those branches which it 
sends to the double colon. The general condition of the 
walls of these vessels consisted in considerable thickening of 
their coats whereby tumours were formed between the layers 
of the mesocolon just against its attachment to the intestine. 
Also these indurated parts were permeated by small canals 
from which generally all parasites had escaped. These 
enlargements often contained caseous or well-maturated pus, 
and occurred most frequently at the extreme portion of the 
colic arterial arch against the pelvic flexure of the bowel. 
In some few cases on examining the mucous membrane of 
the double colon the immature Str. armatus was discovered 
curled up beneath the mucous layer bathed in blood. 
The size of the parasites in this situation served to dis¬ 
tinguish them from Str. tetracanthus, which parasite, it 
will be noted, was frequent, being generally present as a 
very minute curled-up worm, forming a black spot in the 
mucous membrane of the ccecum, not infrequently mistaken 
for a solitary gland. Such spots when present were generally 
extremely numerous. The more mature parasite might be 
