IIYMHNOLEPIS NITIDA, KBABBE, AND U. N1TIDULANS, KRABBE. 33 



Hymenolepis nitida, Erabbe. 



Taenia nitida (Berg, 1807), Krabbe, 1869. 

 Ifi/iiic/iolepis nitida, Rosseter, 19<>."j. 



In December, 1867, in the island of Faroe, Berg found this 

 pretty little tape-worm parasitic in the intestine of the ruff, Tringa 

 maritima, and submitted it for examination to Krabbe ; who, 

 finding it waa a new species, gave it the name of Taenia nitida. 

 Berg had the good fortune to secure a perfect specimen, and it is 

 regrettable that Krabbe, in his Bidrag til Kwndskab,* does not give 

 a delineation of the strobila of this elegant worm. Irrespective 

 of tlie hooks, however, he lias left a Landmark, descriptively, to 

 enable the student of helminthology who might find this species 

 of tape-worm destitute of the scolex and hooks to recognise it as 

 Taenia nitida, and I shall refer to this peculiarity in the text. 



Krai. he's description runs thus: "Longit., 35 mm,; la tit., 

 0*3 mm. ; uncinulorum, 10 mm. ; corona simplex, quorum 

 longit. (HI mm. ; aperturae genitalium secundae ; hamuli 

 embryonal r>. Longit., <»-013mm.; habitaculum, Tringa maritima." 

 In the text he adds — and this is the only portion of the 

 genitalia he refers to — " Den ovale cirrusblaere er staerkt lysbry- 

 dende og derved meget ipinefaldende." 



I found this tape-worm parasitic in the golden plover, 

 Charadriu8 pluvialis, L., in December, 1905, and of the ten 

 specimens which I took from the intestine the smallest was 8*1 mm. 

 and the two largest were 14*887 mm. and 10*463 mm. respectively, 

 or three-sevenths smaller than Berg's specimen, and neither of 

 them possessed a scolex, nor had the terminal proglottides 

 matured into uterine segments. 



The male genital pore is situated at the extreme dorsal anterior 

 proximal portion of the segment, 0*034 mm. from the lateral 

 border. 



The male genitalia are very distinctive in their character. 

 There are three orbicular testes, which in their normal condition 

 are placed equidistant in the posterior portion of the segment — 

 proximally, medially, and distally. In their mature or secretive 

 stage they have a diameter of - 034 mm. From the proximal 

 testis the vasa-efferentia runs distally along the posterior longitu- 

 dinal border of the segment until it reaches the distal lateral 



* No. 50, p. 294, figs. 133—135. 

 Journ. Q. M. C, Series II. — No. 60. 3 



