232 REMARKS ON EUSTRONGYLUS GIGAS. 
this little worm has been found occupying cysts or capsules, 
situated immediately beneath the peritoneal membrane in 
Galaxias scriba, and in certain oceanic fishes belonging to 
the genus Synbranchus. According to the eminent piscico- 
logist, Muller, the Galaxiidee present strong affinities to the 
Salmonidee, hut Cuvier considered them as essentially modi¬ 
fied pikes (Esocidse). It is well known that Balbiani 
attempted to rear Eustrongyli by direct experiment. lie 
administered the ova to dogs, but obtained only negative 
results. Similarly, his experiments on reptiles and fishes 
failed. 
If the conclusions of Schneider and Leuckart be correct— 
and these make it appear that we must hold certain fresh¬ 
water fishes as responsible media of infection—one can only 
express surprise that man is so seldom victimised by this 
parasite. The Synbranchi, being tropical fishes, can have 
little part in the infection of animals, apart from seals. One 
must suppose that pumas, dogs, wolves, gluttons, raccoons, 
minks, weasels, and other carnivora, contract this worm by 
attacking, capturing, and devouring fishes at times when 
they are prevented from obtaining other and more readily 
accessible kinds of food. How this parasite should in some 
instances gain access to herbivorous animals is not so clear. 
The fullest accounts of this worm at present published are 
those given in the standard works of Leuckart and Davaine; 
and in this connection it is not a little curious to notice the 
strange way in which the old writers confounded nematode 
Entozoa with serpents. One of the most remarkable 
memoirs quoted by Davaine is that of Clamorgan. In this 
old writer’s work, La Chasse de Loup , dated 1583, the 
kidney-worms, or Eustrongyli of modern writers, are cha¬ 
racterised as “serpents and highly venomous beasts.” What 
Dr. Kiichenmeister and others have advanced in respect of 
the ancient records concerning the serpent character of the 
guinea-worm finds noteworthy confirmation in the circum¬ 
stance that the great strongyloid kidney-worm has also been 
looked upon as a species of venomous ophidian reptile. 
Facts of this order, if duly weighed, inevitably cause us to 
modify our interpretation of the statements made in ancient 
records. Thus, whatever good the remedies recommended 
and enforced by the Jewish lawgiver may have accomplished 
for the human victims suffering from the attacks of “ fiery 
serpents,” Dracunculi, or guinea-worms, it is to be feared 
that no similar remedial measures of the mystical kind could 
be rendered available in the case of animals bitten by para¬ 
sites that have been regarded as renal serpents. It is fortu- 
