The Anatomy of Pentastomum teretiusculum (Baird)

Abstract

ABSTRACT During the summer of 1887-8 the Field Naturalist Club of Victoria arranged for the annual collecting expedition of its members to be made to King Island. The latter lies to the west of Bass Straits, halfway between the mainland of Victoria and Tasmania, and is a wild and, save for two lighthouse keepers, uninhabited island. Whilst collecting we came across very numerous specimens of the copper-head snake (Hoplocephalus superbus), and in one of these my attention was drawn by my friend and pupil, Mr. E. Dombrain, to the presence of a parasite in the lung, which proved on examination to be a large specimen of some species of Pentastomum. Shortly afterwards I killed another snake of the same species, and on cutting the body open found the lung to be crowded with the same parasite. The weather was extremely warm, and, as we were on the tramp, all that could be done was to put the animal into spirits, and trust to finding the parasite again for the purpose of watching it alive. This opportunity has unfortunately not occurred, though since that time I have cut open many “copper-heads” in the hope of finding the Pentastomum. Mr. D. McAlpine has been good enough to give me four specimens of the same species of Pentastomum, which he has found in the lungs of a black snake (Pseudechys por - phyriacus) in Victoria.