426 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
No. 353 illustrates the scolex of this cestode, showing the two sucking organs 
with anterior acetabula and posterior or basal openings. No. 354 shows the an- 
terior end of the parasite in situ attached to the villi of the small intestine, while 
No. 355 illustrates a section made through an area represented in No. 354. Here 
there is illustrated the mucous membrane and muscularis mucosae of the intesti- 
nal wall of the python sucked or drawn into the oval sucker of the parasite. 
Bothridium ovatum has been found on several occasions before in African 
pythons and boas. It has recently been made the subject of special study by 
Joyeux and Baer ! who have also described Bothridium pithonis and a new variety 
of B. pithonis parvum. 
Stiles? points out that the larval stages for most species of Bothridium and 
Dibothridium are unknown, but the parasites have been found in the intestine 
of mammals, birds, and reptiles. He says that of the six genera, —Diphyllobothrium 
Luehe, 1910 (emend. Braun, 1903) (= Dibothriocephalus), Duthiersia, Scypho- 
cephalus, Bothridium, Diplogonoporus, and Pyramidocephalus — only two (Diphyl- 
lobothrium and Diplogonoporus) have been reported from man. 
The nematodes which were collected from our python were found by Sand- 
ground to correspond to Ophidascaris filaria (Dujardin) Baylis, 1921. The python 
is the type host of this Ophidascaris. Yorke and Maplestone * list eight other 
species, which together with their hosts, are as follows: 
. gestrv (Parona, 1890) In Tropidonotus sp. 
. ntorta (Gedoelst, 1916) In Bitis sp. 
. mombasica (Baylis, 1921) In Psammophis sp. 
. navae (Gedoelst, 1916) In Naya sp. 
obconica (Baird, 1860) In Helicops sp. 
. papillifera (Linstow, 1898) In snakes 
. radiosa (Schneider, 1866) In Bitis sp. 
. solitaria (Linstow, 1903) In Dipsadomorphus sp. 
Seooeooos 
In another example of this same species of python, Armillifer armillatus Sambon,! 
1922 (Porocephalus constrictus Stiles, 1893) was found in the lungs. The larval 
form of the parasite has been found on a number of occasions encysted in the 
liver, mucosa of the intestine and lungs of African natives. Mouchet has found 
this parasite in more than twenty per cent of the autopsies performed by him in 
the Central Congo. During the migrations of the parasites in the body they are 
said to have sometimes given rise to peritonitis and pneumonia. Bequaert on 
page 798 has listed the Linguatulidae collected during the Expedition which 
have not yet been identified. 
Bitis nasicornis. We also found Ophidascaris filaria in the stomach and small 
intestine of Bitvs nasicornis, the snake having been speared in the head as it was 
crossing the trail. A flagellate resembling Trichomonas was also observed in 
fresh film preparations made from the intestine of this snake. In another speci- 
men of this snake adult Linguatulidae were found in the lung. 
Dendraspis viridis. A number of other snakes and reptiles were examined 
1 Joyeux and Baer: Ann. Parasit. (1927), V, 127. 
2 Stiles: Hygienic Laboratory Bull. No. 25 (1906), p. 15. 
3 Yorke and Maplestone: ‘‘ Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates’’ (1926), p. 263. 
4 Sambon: Jour. Trop. Med. and Hyg. (1922) XXV, 188. 
