Part VII (Edentata).
Fig. 60.—Tail of the male Ascaris retusa. Enlarged. Original.
The entozoa of the edentulate mammals are not very numerous. So far as I am aware only one species has been described from the scaly ant-eaters (Manidæ). This is the small and probably immature ascaris noticed by Whitefield in the walls of the stomach of the badgareit or short-tailed pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). Amongst the true ant-eaters (Myrmecophagidæ) a single round worm has also been observed, but not adequately described. I allude to Marcgrav’s “find” in the little ant-eater (Myrmecophaga didactyla). I observe that Rudolphi distinctly refers to this edentate as the tamandua. Diesing does the same. The ant-eaters are much infested by a thorn-headed worm (Echinorhynchus echinodiscus). On the 1st November, 1875, I received from Prof. Flower a jar labelled as follows: “Entozoon found attached to intestine of tamandua ant-eater.” The parasite was procured from the society’s gardens on August 12th, 1871. Natterer originally obtained this worm from Myrmecophaga jubata and M. bivittata. Croplin described it from a M. didactyla from Surinam (‘Wiegmann’s Archiv,’ 1849). I presume that M. tamandua answers to the M. bivittata of Geoffroy, as well as to the tridactyle and tetradactyle species of Linnæus. The parasite in question was a female, measuring exactly 10 inches long, and had its proboscis firmly anchored within the gut. The armadillos (Dasypidæ) entertain a variety of nematodes. In 1858 I obtained several examples of Ascaris retusa from the rectum of a poyou or weasel-headed armadillo (Dasypus sexcinctus). The worm was first procured by Natterer from the black armadillo (D. peba), which host also harbors Pentastoma subcylindricum. According to the “finds” of Natterer and the subsequent descriptions by Diesing, the two most common helminths of the Brazilian armadillos are Aspidocephalus scoleciformis and Trichocephalus subspiralis. As regards the sloths (Bradypidæ) it would seem that they are particularly liable to entertain round worms. The Ai (Bradypus tridactylus) is infested by Strongylus leptocephalus, Spiroptera gracilis, Sp. anterohelicina, and Sp. brachystoma; whilst the unau (Cholœpus didactylus) harbors the last-named species and also Sp. spiralis. All these worms have been described by Molin, and, with the exception of the two first named, were new to science when he wrote his well-known monograph on the genus. They were collected by Natterer. All the species infest either the stomach or intestines, with the exception of Sp. spiralis. This singular worm, like the closely allied Sp. helicina, infesting the feet of birds, has the habit of coiling itself amongst the tendons of the digits of the hind limbs more especially.
Bibliography (No. 48).—Cobbold, “On some new Forms of Entozoa,” ‘Linn. Trans.,’ vol. xxii, p. 365, 1859.—Idem, “List of Entozoa,” &c., ‘Proc. Zool. Soc.,’ March 26, 1861.—Idem, “Notes on Entozoa,” part iii, ‘Proc. Zool. Soc.,’ Feb. 1, 1876, p. 202.—Marcgrav, in his ‘Historia rerum nat. Brasil.,’ 1648, p. 226, and in ‘Rudolphi’s Synopsis,’ p. 186.—Molin, “Una Monografia del gen. Spiroptera,” ‘Aus dem Sitzungsb. d. m.-nat. Cl. d. k. Akad. d. Wissensch.,’ Bd. xxxviii, 1859, s. 911, Wien, 1860.—Whitefield, in ‘Edin. New. Phil. Journ.,’ edited by Jamieson, 1829, p. 58.
Part VIII (Ruminantia).
In the matter of parasites this order of mammalian animals stands second in importance. An entire volume of the dimensions of the present would barely do justice to the subject. Although in the article “Ruminantia” in ‘Todd’s Cyclopædia,’ and in my popular treatise on the mammalia, I have described the oxen (Bovidæ) and sheep (Ægosceridæ) as separate families, I shall here speak of their entozoa together; and, at the same time, I shall introduce occasional reference to the helminths of the antelopes and gnoos (Antilopidæ), also of the giraffes (Camelopardidæ), the deer tribe (Cervidæ), the camels, and the llamas (Camelidæ). The parasites of the last family, however, will necessarily stand somewhat apart.
Fig. 61.—Fasciola hepatica. Enlarged. After Blanchard.