Descriptions of three Filariae / by Joseph Leidy.

  • Leidy, Joseph, 1823-1891.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Descriptions of three Filariae / by Joseph Leidy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    117 fgxtracleJ from the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Vol V. No. vi., 1850.] JVovemher 2Gth. A Descriptions of three Filari<^, By Joseph Leidy, M. D. 1. Fix.Aui.\ Honwiis oris.—Body white, opaque, linear, thread-like; mouth toand, simple ; posterior extremity obtuse, furnished with a short, curved, epider- mal booklet l-500th in. in length, by l-2000th in. in diameter at base. Length 5 inches 7 lines, greatest breadth l-66th in.; breadth at mouth l--200th in.; at posterior extremity l-80th in. Remaris.—The description is taken from a single specimen preserved in alco- hol, in the collection of the Academy, labelled obtained from the naouth of a child. Is it a young individual, or perhaps a male of the Filaria medinensis, or Guinea- worm ? The latter, as is well known, infests the human body, often growing to an enormous length, several yards or more, in the intertropics of Asia and Africa. It is frequently brought in the body of negro slaves from Africa to America, where no entozoon of the kind has ever been noticed to be parasitic in man as an indigenous production. From some late observations on the course of life of entozoa, helminthologists have been led to suspect that most, and probably all en- tozoa pass different stages of their existence in different animals. If such be the feet, may the Filaria medinensis not owe its introduction into the human body, pom the custom which prevails in those countries, where the worm is found, of King insect food ? Insects are well known to be infested with Filarias, probably more than any other class of animals. In Egypt, Arabia, &c., the locust is eaten; in Guinea, &c., the larger coleoptera; in the raw state, and in this con- dition Filariffi may often be swallowed, and reach a higher developement of their existence in the human body. 2. FiLAniA Cams cordis.—Body white, opaque, linear, nearly uniform throughout, posteriorly subulate, pointed ; mouth simple, round. Length 10 to lOi inches, greatest breadth 2-5th of a line, anteriorly l-5th of a line; half an inch from posterior end, 1-lOth of a line. Remaris.—The description is taken from two individuals preserved in alcohol in the collection of the Academy, presented by Dr. R. Coates, who obtained tiiem, according to the label upon the bottle, from the parietes of the heart of a dog. 3. FiLAEiA Bo(B constrictoris. Ii . Body white, cylindrical; integument translucent, longitudinally striated ; fa simple, round; cESophagus cylindrical, opaque white; intestine opa- int, cylindrical, tortuous, corrugated, wider than the oesophagus; anus binal, round; generative aperture close to the mouth; ovaries two, very long 1 very tortuous. Remaris.—The description is taken from two specimens; one 10 inches long, ''y4-.';th3 of aline wide, the other 5i in.long_by3-5thsof aline wide. In the former ■iophagus is 9 lines long and l-3d of a line wide, the intestine 13 in. long -Gths of a line wide. 'Mtaiion.—Found in the areolar tissue, in an irregular or tortuous position, t'ecz/een the muscles of the ribs and the integument of a Boa constrictor