68 NOTICES OP IRISH ENTOZOA. 



trouble can also be removed or torn, so that it may be evert- 

 ed, in doing which it is seen to be every where in close con- 

 tact with, though not adhering to, the ball or head ; there is 

 no perforation whatever, either through it or the peritoneal 

 covering, nor is there any vacant space into which the pro- 

 boscis could be protruded. A proboscis therefore could not 

 pass into the abdominal cavity of the bird, nor is there any 

 space for receiving it in the coats which envelope the head. 



But farther, when the extraneous coats are removed and 

 the head itself comes fairly into view, there is not on the lat- 

 ter the slightest appearance of any aperture, nothing like the 

 entrance into an investing sheath in which the instrument could 

 be retracted, and the centre of the disc, instead of being de- 

 pressed, is prominent and rounded. Rudolphi describes the 

 disc, or top of the head, as apiculate, "seu puncto eminente 

 insignem ; " but this term does not fairly express its nature, 

 the central projection not being a minute or sharp point, but 

 blunt, convex, and surrounded by a broad fosse ; the proper 

 term, as applied to the head would be umbonated, and to the 

 central projection, that of umbo* & dona gnhjjovj3t yjswynjs m 



The circumstances mentioned are sufficient, I believe, to 

 show that the only proboscis, if so it can be called, is the 

 head itself^ 7 j Bf [j eaoqqng o) boa'doai donm m\B I amij msam 



The neck of this species is very slender, being no thicker 

 than an ordinary sewing thread, but it is extremely tough, 

 and difficult to break, so that by care and patience the intes- 

 tine may be cleared away from it ; and in doing this I have 

 succeeded better by tearing away the intestine piecemeal, 

 with a pair of forceps in each hand, than by using cutting 

 instruments. Rudolphi observes, — " Tuberculo extus aperto 

 sphaera invenitur, quae cum collo facile a corpore discedit, 

 intestino vero prius aperto, et eodem circa vermis collum cau- 

 te dissecto, vermis illsesus extrahitur. Turn vero intestinum 

 circa collum tenue Contractum conspiciendo, qui bulla cana- 

 lem tenuissimum transgredi potuerit mireris." — ' Ent.' i. p. 284. 

 The first part of this passage does not correspond with my 

 own experience, for I have always found that the neck and 

 body adhered most tenaciously to each other ; and with re- 

 gard to the last clause, that our wonder should be excited by 

 the passing of so large a body as the head of the Entozoon 

 through so small a canal as that which contains the neck, 

 my opinion is that it never makes any such passage. I have 

 no idea that the head of the animal is first contained in the 

 intestinal cavity, or that it is attached to the parietes of the 

 latter, and afterwards works its way through to the peritoneal 

 surface ; I am strongly inclined to believe that the animal's 



