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.
[Illustration: FIG. 60.--Tail of the male _Ascaris retusa_. Enlarged.
Original.]
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.