In concluding this section of my work I can only find space to make a few acknowledgments. Most of the rare, new, or interesting avian entozoa which I have examined and described have been received either from the Zoological Gardens, or from personal friends. In particular I may mention the collections sent to me by Mr Charles Darwin, Mr Robert Swinhoe, Mr Charles W. Devis, Dr Murie, Dr John Anderson, and Mr Spooner Hart, of Calcutta. A great many correspondents have contributed single specimens, many of which I have already incidentally acknowledged in these pages. In this place I must particularise the new species (Ascaris Cornelyi) which I described from specimens sent to Mr Sclater. This worm infests the vulturine pintado (Numida vulturina). Mr Darwin’s collection contained fine examples of Filaria horrida from the American ostrich (Rhea). When dissecting birds at the Zoological Society’s Menagerie, I obtained (in addition to the parasites already mentioned) Distoma æquale from the American owl (Strix perlata); Tænia multiformis from the night heron (Ardea nyctocorax); T. infundibuliformis from a horned pheasant (Phasianus); T. lævis and T. lanceolata and also Ascaris tribothrioides from a dusky duck (Anas obscura); Eustrongylus papillosus (fig. 75) from the larus crane (Grus antigone); Trichosoma longicolle from the horned pheasant, and T. brevicolle from the Sandwich Island goose (Bernicla Sandwichensis). This bird was also infested by Spiroptera crassicauda and Ascaris dispar. From the ring-necked pheasant (Ph. torquatus) and from the black-backed Kaleege (Euplocomus melanotus), and also from a cheer pheasant (Ph. Wallichii), I obtained abundance of Ascaris vesicularis. From the ashy-headed goose (Chloephaga poliocephala) examples of Str. tubifex and Str. nodularis. This bird also yielded a new species (Str. acuticaudatus). From a tinamou (Tinamus) I obtained the Ascaris strongylina of Rudolphi (Str. spiculatus, mihi). From amongst our British birds I have obtained Asc. depressa, Trichosoma falconum and Hemistoma spathulum, from the kite (Falco milvus). Of these three worms, the last named was also found in the long-eared owl (Strix otus), whilst the first likewise occurred in a kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and in a honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus). I may add Filaria attenuata from a peregrine (F. peregrinus); and F. leptoptera from a sparrow hawk (Accipiter nisus). From the redshank (Totanus calidris) I obtained Tænia variabilis, and from the curlew (Numenius arcuata) T. sphærophora; and from various gulls (Larus glaucus and L. tridactylus) the Tetrabothrium cylindraceum. Also from the grey gull Echinostoma spinulosum. From the red-throated diver I procured Tetr. macrocephalum. I found this tapeworm also in the guillemot (Uria troile), together with a nematode (Ascaris spiculigera) two examples of which were lodged in the right auricle of the heart. From a capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) I have obtained a species of Ligula, and likewise numerous examples of Trichosoma longicolle. Of necessity, this brief notice only comprises a small part of the avian entozoa contained in my collection, many of which I have not had time to describe, whilst, as regards others, I can only say that they remain in abeyance for examination and identification.
Mr Brotherston has recently recorded an interesting find (made Nov. 25th, 1874) of nematodes in the legs of the lesser grebe (Podiceps minor), and also (Feb. 27th, 1878) in the waterhen (Gallinula chloropus). Both limbs of both birds were infested. The worms of the grebe were spirally coiled amongst the muscles and tendons near the lower end of the tibia, and when unrolled measured about an inch in length. The parasites of the waterhen were similar in appearance. Not improbably these were all sexually-imperfect female examples of Filaria acuta hitherto found in the abdomen of grebes.
The British Museum contains many interesting specimens purchased from the collection of Von Siebold, but they are practically inaccessible to investigators. The entozoa in the Hunterian Collection, though few in number, are in an excellent state of preservation, and at all times accessible to visitors.
The ectozoa of birds are too numerous to be dealt with in these pages. References to recent papers by Haller, Mégnin, and Westwood will be found below. The insects infesting the domestic fowl have been alluded to in connection with the occurrence of poultry-lousiness in the horse.
Bibliography (No. 57).—(Anonymous), “On the (gape) Diseases of Fowls,” the ‘Veterinarian,’ p. 267, 1841.—(Anon., initialed “Q.”), Letter on the “Grouse Disease,” in the ‘Times,’ Sept. 5, 1874.—(Anon.), “On Grouse and Partridge Disease,” being annotations in the ‘Lancet,’ Sept. 4, 1875, pp. 360 and 361.—(Anon.), “Grouse Disease,” letter signed “R.” (probably from Lord Ravensworth), in ‘Land and Water,’ Aug. 16, 1873.—(Anon.), “Grouse Disease,” article (from “W. C.”) in the ‘Field,’ Aug. 2, 1873 (criticising my brochure.—T. S. C.).— Arlong, “Note on Tænia from the Fowl,” ‘Rec. Méd. Vét.,’ 1875.—Baird, W., “Descr. of Tænia calva from the Grouse,” in ‘Brit. Mus. Catalogue,’ p. 83.—Blavette, “Descr. of a Verminous Disease among Fowls,” ‘Veterinarian,’ p. 649, 1840.—Brotherston, A., “Parasitic Worms in Legs of Grebe (Podiceps minor) and Water-hen (Gallinula chloropus),” ‘Science Gossip’ for April, 1878, p. 88, and in ‘Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club,’ vol. viii, p. 288.—Carter, B. (see Cobbold).—Chapman, H. C., “Description of a new Tapeworm from Rhea,” ‘Proceed. Phil. Acad.,’ 1876, p. 14.—Chatin, J., “Étude sur des helminthes nouveaux ou peu connus (treating of a Cyathostoma, from Anas tadorna and Sclerostoma pelecani),” ‘Annales des Sciences Naturelles,’ 1875.—Cobbold, ‘The Grouse Disease, a statement of facts tending to prove the Parasitic Origin of the Epidemic,’ London, 1874.—Idem, Letter in the ‘Field,’ Sept. 9, 1872.—Idem, “Contributions to our Knowledge of the Grouse Disease, with description of a new Species of Entozoon,” ‘Veterinarian,’ March, 1873; see also an article (by Brudenell Carter) in the ‘Times’ for Sept. 5, 1874; repr. in the ‘Veter.,’ Oct., 1874.—Idem, “Remarks on the Entozoa of the Common Fowl and of Game-birds, especially in relation to the Grouse Disease,” the ‘Field,’ Sept. 14, 1867, and ‘Brit. Assoc. Rep.,’ 1867.—Idem, “On Sclerostoma and the Disease it occasions in Birds,” ‘Linn. Soc. Proc.,’ 1861; repr. in the ‘Field,’ June 22, 1861, and in ‘Edin. Vet. Rev.,’ vol. iii, p. 439, 1861, also in Tegetmeier’s work on ‘Poultry;’ see also a comment on “Gapes,” by “Umbra,” in the ‘Field,’ June 29, 1861.—Idem, “Parasites from the Zoological Gardens,” ‘Intellectual Observer,’ 1862.—Idem., “Notes on Entozoa (species Nos. 1, 7, 9, 12),” in ‘Zool. Soc. Proc.,’ 1873–76.—Idem, ‘Linn. Soc. Trans.,’ 1858.—Idem, “On Entozoa of Birds and Fishes, collected by Mr Charles W. Devis,” ‘Zool. Soc. Proc.,’ 1865.—Idem, “Note on Entozoa in the Crested Grebe,” the ‘Field,’ March 29, 1873.—Colquhoun, W., ‘Remarks on the decrease of Grouse, and on the Grouse Disease (Gapes),’ Edinburgh, 1858; see also a notice in ‘Edin. Vet. Rev.,’ vol. i, April, 1859.—Crisp, E., “Note on Hydatids in an old Honduras Turkey,” ‘Path. Soc. Trans.,’ 1863.—Idem, “On Sclerostoma,” ‘Rep. of Path. Soc.,’ in ‘Med. Times and Gaz.,’ Oct. 26, 1876, p. 474.—Idem, “Note on Filaria in the Heart of a Peregrine Falcon,” ‘Path. Soc. Trans.,’ 1854.—Davaine, ‘Syngame de la trachée,’ p. 37, and ‘Synops.’ cxiv, in his ‘Traité.’—Devis, C. W. (see Cobbold).—Diesing, ‘Revis. der Myzelminthen,’ Abtheil. “Trémat.,” 1858.—Idem, “Tapeworm from Podiceps,” in his ‘Zwanzig Arten von Cephalocotyleen,’ Wien, 1856.—Idem, see various species in his ‘Revisionen,’ given in Bibl. No. 58.—Eames, C. J. L., “On Tapeworm in Blackbirds,” letter to the ‘Lancet,’ June 9, 1877, p. 863.—Farquharson, R., “The Grouse Disease (due to a contagious fever),” letter to the ‘Lancet,’ Sept., 1874.—Fergusson, J., “On Grouse Disease,” letter in the ‘Times,’ July 16, 1878.—Gentles, T. W., “Tapeworm in Birds,” letter to the ‘Lancet,’ Jan. 18, 1868, p. 106.—Haller, G., “Freyana und Picobia, zwei neue Milbengattungen,” in ‘Sieb. u. Köll. Zeitsch.,’ 1877, s. 181.—Johnston, D., “On the Grouse Disease,” letter in the ‘Lancet,’ Sept. 20, 1873, p. 441.—Krabbe, ‘Bidrag til Kundskab om Fuglenes Bændelorme,’ Copenhagen, 1869 (contains a summary in French, ‘Recherches sur les Ténias des Oiseaux’).—Linstow, O. von, “Euthelminthologica” (containing descriptions and notes on worms from birds, fishes, reptiles, and mollusks), ‘Archiv für Naturgeschichte,’ 1877.—Idem, “New Flukes (Dist. vitellatum and D. macrophallus) from Totanus hypoleucus, and D. cælebs from Fringilla,” Beobacht. in ‘Arch. f. Naturg.,’ 1875, s. 189–193.—Maclagan, “Note on the Grouse Disease,” ‘Proc. Roy. Soc. of Edin.,’ April 20, 1874, p. 378.—Marion, “Révis. des Némat. du Golfe de Marseilles,” ‘Compt. Rendus,’ 1875.—Mégnin, P., “On Harpirhynchus and other Mites,” in ‘Rev. f. Thierheilk.,’ Oct., 1878, s. 146.—Idem, “Mémoire sur les Cheylétides Parasites (Picobia, &c.),” ‘Journ. d’Anat. et de Physiol.,’ 1878; see also ‘Rev. f. Thierheilk.,’ Sept., 1878 et seq.—Molin, in his various monographs (quoted in Bibl. Nos. 54, 56, and elsewhere).—Montagu, G., “Account of a species of Fasciola which infests the Trachea of Poultry, with a mode of Cure,” ‘Memoirs of the Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc.,’ vol. i, p. 194, 1811.—Perrier, ‘On Syngamus’ (brochure, Paris, 1875).—Pulteney, R., “On Ascarides discovered in Pelicanus carbo and P. cristatus,” ‘Linn. Trans.,’ vol. v, 1800, p. 24.—Röll, “Beitrag. zur Entwickelungsgeschichte der Tænien,” ‘Verh. d. Würzb. p. m. Ges.,’ Bd. iii, 1852, s. 51.—Sanderson, J. B., “On Grouse Disease,” ‘Brit. Med. Journ.,’ May 15, 1875.—Small, M., “Worms in the Eyes of Geese,” from the ‘Irish Farmer’s Gaz.,’ in the ‘Veterinarian,’ 1862, p. 19.—Tait, L., “Tapeworm in Birds,” letters to the ‘Lancet’ for Jan. 25, 1868, p. 145, and Feb. 8, 1868, p. 214; see also “Pediculus,” ibid., p. 180.—Tegetmeier, “On the Grouse Disease,” in the ‘Field,’ Sept. 12, 1874.—Thick, “Letter on the Cure of Gapes,” in ‘Land and Water,’ Aug., 1867, p. 77.—Vaughan, “The Grouse Disease,” in the ‘Field,’ Aug. 23, 1873.—Villow, A., “Sur les migrations, et les Métamorphoses des Trematodes,” ‘Comptes Rendus,’ 1875, and ‘Ann. Nat. Hist.,’ 1875 (chiefly on flukes of the sea-lark, Tringa alpina).—Idem, “Sur le syst. nerveau,” &c., ibid., 1875.—Idem, “On the Helm. Fauna of the Coast of Brittany (chiefly from birds),” ‘Ann. Nat. Hist.,’ from ‘Comp. Rend.,’ 1875, p. 1098, and from ‘Arch. de Zool. Expérim. et gén.,’ 1875.—Idem, “Sur l’appareil des Trematodes (Dist. insigne),” ‘Compt. Rend.,’ 1875.—Wedl, K., ‘Anatomische Beobachtungen ueber Trematoden,’ Wien, 1858 (contains excellent descriptions of numerous flukes, chiefly from birds).—Westwood, J. O., “New Flea on a Fowl (Sarcopsillus),” ‘Entom. Month. Mag.,’ xi, p. 246, 1875.—Wiesenthal, A., “Account of a Parasite infesting the Trachea of Fowls and Turkeys in America,” ‘Med. and Phys. Journ.,’ vol. ii, p. 204, 1799.—Wyman, “On Eustrongyli within the Cranium of Water-Turkeys,” ‘Proc. Boston Nat. Hist. Soc.,’ 1868.—Youatt, “On a Verminous Disease in Poultry” (being a letter to him), ‘Veterinarian,’ p. 648, 1840.—Zeller, “On Leucochloridium,” from ‘Zeitsch. f. wissensch. Zool.,’ 1874, s. 564, and from ‘Bibl. Univ. Bullet. Sci.,’ 1874, p. 366, in ‘Ann. Nat. Hist.,’ Feb., 1875.
Part II (Reptilia).
Much that I have advanced in respect of the parasitism of birds holds good in the case of reptiles. I cannot recapitulate. The saurians, ophidians, and chelonians are extensively infested, but in this respect the amphibian frogs, toads, and salamanders are probably the most victimised. If, on the one hand, comparatively few tapeworms have been found in reptiles, it may, on the other hand, be said that the Echinorhynchi come into prominence, causing serious injury to reptilian hosts. Serpents and chameleons are particularly liable to have their lungs infested by acanthocephalous entozoa, these organs being also attacked by pentastomes. I have received evidence of fatal epizoöty amongst chameleons from this source; and I have been requested to suggest a remedy. To prevent outbreaks of entozoal disease is one thing; to offer a radical cure when the parasites are firmly anchored within the pulmonary organs is quite another matter.
As remarked in my ‘Entozoa,’ the trematodes display a great partiality for batrachians, more than half a dozen different species of fluke being known to infest the common frog. Flukes are likewise tolerably abundant in the saurian and chelonian reptiles. I regret that I cannot find space so much as to enumerate the species. As one would naturally expect, the frog has been exhaustively anatomised and examined for entozoa, and it was this creature that supplied Leuckart and Mecznikow with the materials which led to their well-known discovery and controversy respecting the development, dimorphism, and parthenogenetic phenomena exhibited by Ascaris nigrovenosa. I cannot give the facts in detail. Female examples of the worm live in the lungs of the frog. Their young, as embryos, pass into the damp earth and mud, where they grow up into sexually-mature forms different from the parent worms found in the frog. These free adult worms, male and female, produce rhabditiform embryos which present characters of their own and attain a certain stage of growth. At this stage they are conveyed into the lungs of the frog where they arrive at sexual maturity. As there are no male worms in the frog, it is probable that the embryos of these parasitic females are agamogenetically produced by internal budding, the sexual influence of the free males being, as it were, continued onward without actual contact with the parasitic females. Amongst the interesting parasites of the frog one must also mention Amphistoma subclavatum and Polystoma intergerrimum. The former worm resides in the large intestine and the latter in the urinary bladder. The larvæ (Cercaria diplocotylea) of this amphistome reside in or upon the body of water-snails, and, like the cercarian larvæ of polystoma, they are furnished with eyes. I state this fact on the authority of Pagenstecher; and, since I cannot devote a special section to the entozoa of mollusks, I repeat, in part, the valuable results which Pagenstecher published many years back and which have a permanent value in relation to the origin of parasitic diseases resulting from flukes. In the memoir quoted below, Pagenstecher gives the following conclusions (Schlussbemerkungen):
“(a).—The eggs of the trematoda vary in respect of size, form, and color, being either furnished or not with a lid, and accordingly distinguishable. In the mature condition they contain a ciliated or a non-ciliated embryo of unequal growth, this embryo partly increasing in size even after its birth. In various conceivable ways the eggs themselves, or the embryos which have quitted their shells, arrive in and upon the bodies of mollusks, where they are consequently found. In this situation the egg opens, or the ciliated covering decays, and the contained motionless germ—which in itself offers no distinctive characters—having become free, grows into a nurse, or forms several nurses within itself.
“(b).—Whilst some of the trematodes display a highly organised nurse condition, others exhibit only a simple kind of germ-sac. Both forms, nevertheless, appear to occur in one and the same species, probably depending upon external causes.