On the anatomy of a new species of pentastoma found in the lung and air-sac of an Egyptian cobra / by George Harley.

  • George Harley
Date:
[1857]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the anatomy of a new species of pentastoma found in the lung and air-sac of an Egyptian cobra / by George Harley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    [From the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, June 9, 1857.] On thk Anatomy of a new Species of Pf.ntastoma found IN THE Lung and Air-sac of an Egyptian Cobra. By George Harley, M.D., F.C.S., of University College, London. (Annulosa, PI. XLVI., XLVII.) Having lately had the opportunity of dissecting a fine specimen of Entozoon, which, as far as I am aware, is an entirely new and un- described species, a brief description of its anatomy may perhaps prove interesting to the members of the Society. The worm which I am about to describe was found in the lung of the Egyptian Cobra, Naja Hage, kindly sent to me for examination by D. W. Mitchell, Esq. I was fortunate enough to obtain four fine specimens, nearly all of equal size, from the same animal. They measure from 4 to 5 inches in length, and from 5 to 8 lines in cir- cumference. In external characters they seem to resemble an En- tozoon found in the lung of a Cobra by Dr. Crisp, a short descrip- tion of which was given in the Proceedings of the Society for 1853, p. 22, Annul, pi. 30. fig. 7, by Dr. Baird ; who spoke of it as an un- described species of Pentastoma, and gave it the name of Pentastoma annulatum. Dr. Baird's description of the specimen is, however, very short, and unfortunately incomplete, in consequence of his having seen only a small specimen, and that even imperfectly, on ac- count of the most important fact, the head remaining imbedded, and hidden from view in the lung of the snake. I think it probable, however, that the animal which he described is one of the same species as I have obtained specimens of. External characters. The body of the entozoon is of a white colour, elongated, cylindrical and strongly ringed (PI. XLVL fig. I). It begins with a round obtuse head, attached to the trunk by a short somewhat narrow neck. The body then gradually widens for the first three lines, where it mea- sures in the largest specimen (4| inches long) 8 hues in circum- ference, and from here down to within a few lines of the caudal extremity, continues of nearly the same diameter. Below this point it becomes regularly narrower the nearer we approach to the poste- rior end, which terminates obtusely. The caudal extremity is almost of the same diameter as the head. The rings which are, as before mentioned, very strongly marked, commence close to the posterior part of the head, and for the first three or four lines, gradually in-