13
III.—BANDICOOT.
A.—EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS re HÆMATOZOON IN BANDICOOTS.
TABLE I.
Showing the Bandicoots [Mus (Nesokia) giganteus] examined from July 1S94 to
end of April 1S95, and the relative number of Hæmatozoa in their circulation.
Hæmatozoa in blood.
In field of Microscope .
Number of Bandicoots.
Percentage
Absent.
...
112
74.66
Few.
1—5
7
466
Numerous.
5—20
8
5.33
Very
numerous.
20—50
12
800
Swarming.
Over 50
11
7.33
Total.
...
150
100 00
Absent.
...
112
74.66
Present.
...
38
25.33
The experiments made during the past year confirm our last year's observa
tions as to the presence of the Trypanosoma in the circulation of young and
half grown animals of this species, and their almost entire absence from full
grown animals examined. This exception occurs during the wet season.
2. Several varieties of the Trypanosoma have been found in the blood of
Bandicoots, but they appear to belong to the same species.
3. The difficulty experienced in obtaining Bandicoots on the Deccan plateau,
militated against the attempt on our part to obtain a complete knowledge of the
conditions of the blood of these animals, during each month of the year. But it
is more than probable from our present knowledge, that the same changes with
regard to the Trypanosoma during the dry and wet seasons, occur in the circula-
tion of Bandicoots, as those detailed as observed in the Rat.
4. Nematode worms, varying in numbers and dimensions (½ to 5 inches in
length) were found in the stomachs of bandicoots—in many instances completely
distending the organs. In a total of 150 animals examined, nematodes were found
in 90, or 60 per cent.
5. The livers of these animals were also the seat of extensive changes
caused by the presence of vast numbers of nematode eggs, some of which mature
" in situ" and frequently the young worms escape into the peritoneal cavity.
6. The chief pathological changes observed were ulceration, (sometimes
extensive), of the villous portion of the stomach, and as an effect of the former,
the formation of diverticula, the walls of the sac being formed of thickened
peritoneum, extravasations of blood under the submucous tissues; enlarged
spleen—4 or 5 times normal—and less frequently abscess of liver, spleen and
subcutaneous tissues.
7 As in the case of pregnant rats, so in that of pregnant bandicoots,
although the Trypanosoma was present in vast numbers in the blood of the
mother in no instance has it been discovered in the circulation of the foetus.
8 The blood of the majority of bandicoots during the rainy season was
found to contain an exceedingly minute spirillum, even when the Trypanosoma
was absent from their circulation. Rabbits and Guinea-pigs inoculated subcutane-
ously with blood containing this organism, contracted the disease, and death
resulted in the majority of instances.
B Inoculation of animals with Bandicoots' Blood,
The Donkey proved refractory to the Trypanosoma of the Bandicoot,
although blood teeming with the organism was on numerous occasions sub-
cutaneously injected.
2 Except in one instance, when the hæmatozoon appeared on the 4th day
liter inoculation, and death occurred on the 41st day, Guinea-pigs generally proved
refractory to the soiled blood of the bandicoot. The same applies to rabbits.
3 Rabbits and Guinea-pigs acquired no resistance even to the least virulent
type of Surra, when subcutaneously injected daily for varying periods, with large
quantities of full-grown bandicoots' blood, sine Hæmatozoon.
B 744—4
BOMBAY : PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT CENTRAL PRESS.