NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
H. D.
SRIVASTAVA
53
testis of 0.14-0.4 mm. × 0.1-0.2 mm. lies on the left. The vesicula
seminalis is divisible into two parts ; a long, tubular, vesicula seminalis
externa of 0.9-1.4 mm. × 0.3 mm. lying almost horizontally in
front of the acetabulum and a small vesicula seminalis interna of
0.4-0.9 mm. × 0.4-0.5 mm. The club-shaped cirrus sac measures 0.4-
0.6 mm. × 0.1-0.14 mm. in size and extends obliquely from the shallow
genital atrium to the right in caecum, in level with the anterior border of the
acetabulum. It encloses the vesicula seminalis interna, a small, well-differen-
tiated pars prostatica of 0.04-0.15 mm. × 0.05-0.09 mm. surrounded by
prostate gland cells, and a fairly long and simple ductus ejaculatorius,
which opens proximally into a small cirrus. In some specimens, the pars
prostatica is constricted into two parts. The genital atrium is situated to
the left of the oral sucker level with its anterior border.
Ventral view of Lepocreadioides indicum, n. sp.
E. bl. =Excretory bladder ; G. p. = Genital pore ; Mt. =Metraterm ; O. =Ovary
P.p. = Pars prostatica ; R. s. = Receptaculum seminis ; T. = Testis; V. s. e. = Vesicul
seminalis externa ; V. s. i. = Vesicula seminalis interna.
The ovary measures 0.1-0.24 mm. × 0.1-0.2 mm. in size and consists
of three-pear shaped lobes, which join medially. It is situated on the
left side just in front of the receptaculum seminis. The latter is a roughly
triangular, thin-walled sac 0.22 × 0.12-0.26 mm. in size, lying
in front of the posterior testis. Laurer's canal is present. The shell gland
mass lies in the space between the ovary, receptaculum seminis and the
median line. The vitellaria are composed of small, irregular, follicles extend-
ing along the caeca from the level of the intestinal bifurcation to their blind
ends, where they turn round and extend up to the level of the receptaculum
seminis. The follicles overlap the caeca at several places. The yolk reservoir
is a small, triangular sac, lying between the ovary and receptaculum seminis.
The uterine coils occupy the median space between the acetabulum and
testes. The eggs are not numerous and measure 0.057-0.068 mm. × 0.026-
0.034 mm. in size.
54
New Allocreadids from Indian Fishes
The excretory bladder is a small, narrow tubular structure extending
from the anterior border of the right testis to the hinder end.
Lepocreadioides indicum, n. sp. resembles the type species of the genus
L. zebrini Yamaguti, 1936, in the general character of the body, in the diges-
tive system, in the position of the receptaculum seminis, in the character
of ovary and in the disposition of the vitellaria. It, however, differs from
the type species in the character of the vesicula seminalis externa, in
the extent of the cirrus sac, in the relative position of testes and in the more
cephalad position of the genital atrium. The Indian species differs from the
second species of the genus, L. branchiostegi Yamaguti, 1937, in the shape and
size of its body, in the absence of spines in the post-acetabular region, in
the shape of the cirrus sac and the vesicula seminalis externa and in the
position of the receptaculum seminis.
REFERENCES
Yamaguti, S. (1936). Studies on the Helminth Fauna of Japan. Pt. 16. Trematodes of
Fishes, III
(1937). Ibid. Pt. 17. Trematodes of a Marine Fish
SELECTED ARTICLES
THE EFFICIENCY OF COPPER SULPHATE AND CARBON
TETRACHLORIDE AGAINST HAEMONCHUS
CONTORTUS IN ADULT SHEEP
BY
HUGH McL. GORDON, B. V. Sc.
(C. S. I. R. Division of Animal Health and Nutrition, The McMaster Laboratory
Sydney)
(Reprinted from the Australian Veterinary Journal, Vol. XV, No. 3, June, 1939)
INTRODUCTION
T HE high degrees of anthelmintic efficiency of solutions of copper sul-
phate, copper sulphate with sodium arsenite, and carbon tetrachloride
against H. contortus in young sheep have been demonstrated on a number of
occasions [Seddon and Clunies Ross, 1929 ; Roberts, 1932 ; Clunies Ross and
Gordon, 1934 ; and Gordon, 1935].
It has been shown that in young sheep, carbon tetrachloride possesses
a very high degree of efficiency against adult H. contortus, and that treatment
with this drug appears to be invariably satisfactory.
Copper sulphate solutions do not appear to be quite as efficient as carbon
tetrachloride, and, moreover, are ineffective unless swallowed direct into the
abomasum.
It has been shown by Clunies Ross [1934] and Mönnig and Quin [1935]
that solutions of copper sulphate stimulate the closure of the oesophageal
groove in sheep and tend to be swallowed into the abomasum in a consider-
able proportion of cases. The number of cases in which the drug is not swallow-
ed into the abomasum has been noted to vary fairly considerably from one
experiment to another. In 15 experiments carried out at this laboratory
the following results were obtained :
Direct passage to abomasum : 184/209 cases or 88.0 per cent (varia-
tion 70 to 100 per cent).
Failure of direct passage to abomasum : 2
cent (variation 30 to 0 per cent).
It thus appears that when using copper sulphate solutions as anthel-
mintics against H. contortus, one may expect treatment to be unsuccessful
in as many as 30 per cent of animals, simply because the drug fails to pass
directly into the abomasum. The average failure from this cause, however,
should not be greater than about 12 per cent.
On the other hand, carbon tetrachloride appears to be efficient irres-
pective of its destination when swallowed. This is supported by recent
experiments [Gordon], which showed that it possessed a high degree of effi-
ciency against H. contortus when injected into the rumen through the abdo-
minal wall.
55
56
Treatment for H. contortus in Sheep
The experiments described below were prompted by lack of experi-
mental information on the efficiency of anthelmintics against H. contortus
in adult sheep, and by recognition of the urgent need to control the worm
burdens of such sheep. Although adult sheep frequently possess a varying
degree of resistance to helminth parasites, they, particularly breeding ewes,
nevertheless often become heavily infested. Adult sheep may harbour
large numbers of helminths without showing obvious clinical evidence of
parasitism, and thus may heavily contaminate pastures for lambs or other
young sheep grazing with, or following, them. While treatment of adult
sheep, therefore, may be necessary in order to cure them of helminthiasis,
it is probably of greater importance in reducing the degree of contamination
of pastures. It is now considered that a plan for control of helminthiasis
of sheep, particularly haemonchosis, should begin with treatment of ewes
before lambing, and the necessity for a highly efficient anthelmintic for adult
sheep is therefore obvious.
Determination of a criterion for satisfactory efficiency presents a number
of difficulties. Consider, for example, an adult sheep harbouring 8,000 H.
contortus. A 70 per cent reduction will leave 2,400 worms, perhaps not
sufficient to prevent recovery of the sheep, but assuming that half of them
are females (which produce up to 5,000 eggs each per day), the sheep may
still distribute 6,000,000 (1,200× 5,000) eggs every 24 hours. With a 90
per cent efficiency, 800 worms would remain, and the 400 females would
produce 2,000,000 eggs every 24 hours. It thus appears that while treat-
ment may be effective in curing helminthiasis, its effect in reducing infesta-
tion of pastures is not necessarily as real. In other words, a moderately
satisfactory treatment may prevent deaths from haemonchosis, but may not
prevent development of heavy infestation in lambs pastured with ewes. A
highly efficient treatment is necessary for this latter purpose. Owing to
variations in degree of efficiency, it was finally decided that a treatment
which reduced the egg count by 70 per cent or more should be considered
satisfactory.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The majority of sheep used were artificially infected by dosing with
larvae and were maintained in concrete pens throughout the experimental
period. A few sheep which had become infected by grazing on infested
pastures were also used. Egg counts were carried out daily for at least 10
days before and 14 days after treatment. A decrease of 70 per cent or more
in egg count was considered to indicate that treatment was satisfactory.
In many cases the decrease in egg count was in the vicinity of 90 per cent.
Details of egg counts are not given owing to considerations of space.
Dosage
(a) 1 fl. oz. of 4 per cent solution of copper sulphate. —This is the dose
rate usually prescribed for adult sheep in Australia. Alternative dose rates
are 2 fl. oz. of 2 per cent solution or 20 ml. of 5 per cent solution. Preliminary
THE TREATMENT OF BABESIELLOSIS (B. ARGENTINA)
WITH ACAPRIN
BY
JOHN LEGG, D. V. Sc.
Senior Veterinary
(Reprinted from the Australian Veterinary Journal, Vol. XV, No. 3, June 1939)
INTRODUCTION
A CAPRIN, which is described as N 1 N 1 —(bismethylquinolylmethyl-sul-
phate-6—carbamide (Bayer), is a synthetic drug now widely used as a
specific against piroplasmosis in domestic animals in various parts of the world.
It is usually employed as a solution of 5 per cent and has many
advantages because the dose employed is relatively small, the solution is
stable, and because it can be used subcutaneously its application is quite
easy.
Legg [1936] previously reported on its use in the treatment of piro-
plasmosis (P. bigeminum) in cattle in Queensland. He found it very effective
when employed intravenously, but had the disadvantage that when so applied
it sterilized the animal. So far there has been no publication in Australia
dealing with the use of this drug against babesiellosis (B. argentina). This
particular form of tick-fever is now known to be by far the most common
type in this country, although piroplasmosis and anaplasmosis (A. marginale)
are both known. The organism responsible appears to be identical with that
described by Lignieres in 1903 in the Argentine and also with the one seen
by Sohns in the Dutch East Indies in 1918. If not identical with, it is at
least closely related to B. berbera found in N. Africa by Sergent in 1924.
ANIMALS TREATED
Among a number of cattle treated both in the field and under experi-
mental conditions the following are selected for description.
(a) Non-splenectomized
Bovine 310. —Steer one-and-a-half years old, good condition.
This animal was an anaplasm carrier (A. centrale) and was inoculated
on 7th March 1938, with 20 ml. citrated blood ex-bovine 321, a babesiella
carrier. At the same time it received 20 ml. citrated blood intravenously
ex-370, a carrier of P. bigeminum. Piroplasms were seen on the 4th, 5th
and 6th days after inoculation, but the reaction was mild and called for no
treatment. Babesiellas appeared in the blood on the 12th day, but were
difficult to detect (evening temperature 105.6°). They were frequently
seen in smears taken on the morning of the 13th day (temperature 106.4°),
59
60
Treatment of Babesiellosis (B. argentina) with Acaprin
when 6 ml. acaprin were given. Within a few hours the temperature had
fallen to 104.4° and parasites had disappeared. Recovery was uneventful.
Bovine 379. —Steer one year old, good condition.
Inoculated subcutaneously with 20 ml. citrated blood on 25th March
1938, ex-321, a babesiella carrier. The temperature was normal for 13 days
during which blood smears showed no parasites. On the evening of the 14th
day the temperature was 104° and the blood still negative ; 15th day 106°
(morning) when parasites were noted for the first time. The temperature
remained around 106° until the afternoon of the 16th day, parasites steadily
increasing in the peripheral blood. At this stage 6 ml. of acaprin were given.
The following morning (17th day) the temperature had fallen to 101.2°
and parasites were rare. A few hours later they disappeared completely.
Recovery was uneventful.
Bovine 381. —Steer one year old, good condition.
The animal previously referred to (379) was bled on the 16th day before
the acaprin was injected and 5 ml. citrated blood inoculated subcutaneously
into 381. On the fourth day the temperature was between 105° and 106°,
but the blood was negative. The following day (fifth) the temperature fluc-
tuated between 104.5° and 105° and parasites appeared. During the sixth
day they steadily increased in number, and in the afternoon at 3 P. M. when
acaprin was given (6 ml. ) the temperature was 106.8° and parasites were
common. A few parasites were seen on the following morning (seventh
day), the temperature being 105.2°. No further parasites were subsequently
seen and the temperature rapidly declined to normal.
Bovine 487. —Stud Shorthorn bull, one-and-a-half years old, prime con-
dition.
Inoculated on 19th April, 1939, with 20 ml. citrated blood ex-bovine
480, a carrier of both P. bigeminum and B. argentina. Temperature and
blood examinations were normal for 12 days. On the 13th, 14th and 15th
days there was some fluctuation in temperature which eventfully reached
106.2° on the evening of the 16th day when babesiellas appeared. The
following morning (17th day) both piroplasms and babesiellas were present
in considerable numbers (temperature 105.2°) when 6 ml. acapr n were given.
Piroplasms had disappeared by the evening, but a few babesiellas were still
present. The next day (18th) the temperature was down to 102.4° and the
blood negative. Recovery was rapid.
(b) Splenectomized animals
In view of the successful use of the drug in ordinary animals it was de-
cided to extend its application to the treatment of animals from which the
spleen had been removed. From previous observations made it was known
that the disease ran a rapid and fatal course in animals so treated.
Bovine 397. —Steer 2 years old, good condition, a carrier of A. centrale
(South African origin).
Inoculated subcutaneously 2nd August, 1938, with 20 ml. citrated blood
ex-381, a babesiella carrier. Splenectomy performed three days afterwards.
The temperature fluctuated during the three or four days following splenec-
tomy and reached 105°, but soon settled to normal On the evening of the
JOHN
LEGG
61
14th day it was again up to 105°, but the blood was negative. On the morn-
ing of the 15th day it was over 105° and parasites appeared in the blood.
These steadily increased in numbers and during the afternoon a full dose of
acaprin (6 ml. ) was given. On the 16th day the temperature was still over 105°
and a few parasites present. A further dose of acaprin (6 ml. ) was given in the
afternoon.
The temperature had fallen to 102.8° by the morning of the 17th day,
parasites had disappeared, and from then on recovery was uneventful.
Bovine 441. —Steer 2 years old, good condition.
Inoculated extravenously with 100 ml. citrated blood ex-376, a babesiella
carrier, on 29th October, 1938. Spelenectomy performed five days later.
The temperature steadily rose during the four to five days after splenectomy
and reached 105.6° on the evening of the 11th day, when a few babesiellas
appeared in the blood. The next day (12th) they were still rare, but the
temperature was now between 106° to 107°, so 6 ml. acaprin were given at
10 A. M.
By the morning of the 13th day the temperature was down to 102.4°
and parasites had disappeared. Recovery rapidly followed.
Bovine 442. —Steer 2 years old, good condition.
Inoculated intravenously with 100 ml. citrated blood ex-377, a babesiella
carrier, on 29th October, 1938. Splenectomy performed 5 days later.
After splenectomy the temperature steadily rose for four days and on
the evening of the ninth day was 106.8°. Blood was negative. On the 10th
day parasites first appeared but were rare. The temperature still remained
over 106° and acaprin was given (6 ml. ) in the evening. The following morn-
ing (11th day) it had fallen to 104° and parasites were still seen, but were rare.
In a few hours, however, they had disappeared and the temperature had
receded further. Recovery was rapid.
In all the cases described the acaprin was given subcutaneously.
CONCLUSIONS
Acaprin in doses of 6 ml. subcutaneously applied to cattle reacting acutely
to B. argentina, is followed by a rapid disappearance of the parasites from the
peripheral blood and a fall in temperature. Animals so treated rapidly re-
cover.
REFERENCE
Legg. J. (1939). Aust. Vet. J. 12, 227
FERTILE MARE MULES*
BY
W. S. ANDERSON
University of Kentucky
(Reprinted from the Journal of Heredity, Vol. 30, No. 12, December, 1939)
(With Plate III)
T HERE are very few living animals whose mothers are mules. Two of these
rarities are owned by the Texas A. and M. College, and another is
owned by W. H. Mobley and Son of Columbus, Indiana.
One of the two in Texas is a mare mule by a jack out of ' Old Bec ' des-
cribed in this Journal, Sept. , 1928. She is not a three-quarter ass as her
ancestry would indicate but a mule in all her features. Unlike her mother,
she proved to be sterile. The other Texas animal is the son of a saddle stallion
out of ' Old Bec '. He is a five-gaited saddle horse and has been shown as
such at Texas fairs. He has none of the ass-like qualities of his mule mother.
He has been mated to several mares and the foals by him show no evidence
of hybrid blood.
Another animal with a mule mother, is a male foal by a Percheron stallion
and was five weeks old in June, 1938, when photographed (Plate III). He
exhibits the Percheron characteristics for a foal of that age. There is com-
plete absence of any influence of the ass ancestry coming to him from his
mother. His owners intend to keep him and test him by breeding.
These three living animals explain those rare occasions when a female
mule becomes a mother. It is known that the ass has a greater mumber of
chromosomes than the horse. This difference does not interfere with an ovum
of a mare developing when fertilized by a sperm of a jack ; but when the hybrid
reaches physical maturity and the gonads begin to function the inequality of the
chromosome numbers prevents the reproductive glands from producing sex cells.
The author has examined glands of male mules after castration but has never
found any spermatozoa.
The production of the three animals by mare mules indicates that their
ovaries did mature viable ova. Since two of the foals by stallions are horses
without any features of the mule or ass, it is certain the ova that produced
them carried no chromosomes from the ass. The mare mule out of ' Old
Bec ' and by a jack is in every way a mule ; not an animal with three-fourths
of her genes from the ass. In this case the ovum evidently carried no chromo-
somes of the ass but only the chromosomes which its mother received from
her mother, a female horse. The explanation appears to be, that if the female
mule produces an ovum without ass chromosomes it is viable. It could
happen, if in the division of the oocyte, all the ass chromosomes clung together
and went into the polar, or waste cell, the final ovum would contain only the
* A few days after this note was received similar information and another illustra-
tion of the Indiana mule and her colt were submitted by Dr. Edwin E. Jacobs, Ashland
College, Ashland, Ohio.
62
Ind. J. Vet. Sci. & Anim. Husb. Vol. XI, Part I
]
PLATE
III
A fertile mule and her colt
Photographs of the female mule from Indiana and the horse-like foal she produced when mated
to a Percheron stallion. The colt was five weeks old when the picture was taken. This survey of
three instances of fertile mules suggests that some female mules may occasionally produce a pure
horse ovum, uncontaminated by ass ancestry, and that these rare ova are fertile.
W. S.
ANDERSON
63
chromosomes received from the horse ancestry. If this hypothetical ex-
planation be true then a viable ovum of a mare mule would carry the haploid
number of horse chromosomes just as the ova of all female horses. On the
other hand no viable ova are produced by female mules except the rare ones
in which the sister polar cell carried away all the ass chromosomes.
This would explain the bearing of a horse-like colt by a fertile mule,
recorded skeptically by Lloyd Jones in this Journal in 1916. It was reasonably
held that an animal with one-fourth ass ancestry should have some characters
of the ass, but as pointed out above, this instead of being ground for doubt,
may really be what is to be expected in cases of mule fertility. As the word
of the breeders was the main evidence, the rare occurrences were frequently
looked upon with more doubt than interest.
Further evidence that the foregoing hypothesis is true is found in a
recent statement from the Texas A. and M. College that " the son of the ' Old
Bec' is fertile and has quite a number of colts around that section of the
country. His daughters also are fertile. He is rather a popular sire locally
and is used for saddle purposes". None of his offspring show any reversion
to their ass ancestry. If he carried any of the chromosomes of the ass,
hybrid qualities would appear in his offspring. The absence of ass-like
qualities seems conclusive evidence that he himself originated from an
ovum with no chromosomes from his grandsire, the jack.
In 1918 the Kentucky Experiment Station purchased a mare mule that
had aborted a fetus of about four or five months of age. She was mated
with a stallion but failed to conceive. The fetus was preserved and appears
mule-like. The high fetal mortality rate of mules that conceive may perhaps
be explained by combinations of chromosomes being formed which are only
partially viable.
The dream of mule breeders has been to find fertile mare mules, hoping
to get a race of perpetuating hybrids. The dream it seems cannot be realized
as the reversion to the horse of the hybrid ancestry takes place, when they are
fertile.
If the above hypothesis is correct, the two male horses out of mare
mules hereditarily have no maternal grandfathers as the hereditary material
which each mother mule received from her sire was all eliminated in the normal
random assortment as the ova were produced, and only the mother's material
gift of chromosomes entered the viable eggs from which the two horses evolved.
70
ABSTRACTS
in this way give effects quite different from their average effects. Phylogenetically the
various combinations of genes must function well enough to survive. Therefore heavy
selection would occur against genes which would produce good results in certain special
combinations but which in the majority of the Mendelian combinations gave bad results.
Manifestations of this cause of ' nicking ' are found in cases in which one sire produces
good progeny with one group of dams but quite ordinary or poor progeny with another.
Or if several sires are used on one group of dams their order of merit, based on the pro-
geny, may be quite different from what it would be if they were used on another group of
dams.
It is, however, not likely that sire proving would be greatly disturbed by epistatic
effects since there is no effective way of getting groups of cows that are genetically uni-
form within groups, but contrasting from group to group. It cannot be accomplished
alone by selection as the effect of one gene cannot be entirely distinguished from the
effect of another gene. Joint effects involving three or more genes are even less likely
to be observed with any degree of accuracy.
The authors examined the records of 13 bulls by the analysis of variance to deter-
mine whether significant differences existed among the daughters of each bull when group-
ed according to their maternal grandsires. No evidences of ' nicking ' which would dis-
turb the proving of any of these bulls was noted.
[J. N. W. ]