<>4 NOTICES OF IRISH ENTOZOA. 



the proboscis, yet the difficulty remained of knowing how 

 they could come into action ; and on looking at b, Jig. 24, 

 which is a magnified view of the present species, it is not easy 

 to conceive how the proboscis (c) could be assisted by the 

 aculei at d. And were the natural state of the animal such 

 as is represented here, and in delineations of this and various 

 allied species in helminthological works, these aculei would 

 be little better than useless ; but the figures alluded to show 

 the animals not in their natural state, but distended to six 

 times their original bulk, or more, by the absorption of wa- 

 ter, and rendered rigid, and almost ready to burst, instead of 

 being shrivelled and flaccid. In accordance with this obser- 

 vation I found that on examining the present species, when 

 immediately removed from the intestine, it bore in form a 

 close resemblance to a Patella Hungarica in miniature ; 

 there was a small, conical, raised extremity, but the broad 

 end was expanded like a circular disc, with the proboscis pro- 

 jecting from its centre, as represented at e,Jig. 24. The first 

 sketch which I made of this species, was that shown at f, 

 Jig. 24, after the absorption of water had commenced ; while 

 b, Jig. 24, shows the animal when the distention was com- 

 pleted. I if a r oi 7 nr> ur 



Now it must be obvious that while the Entozoon can ap- 

 ply the aculei to the side of the intestine, or to the tough 

 mucus lining it, considerable adhesive force must be added 

 to that of the proboscis, and the animal's hold be rendered 

 thereby more secure. It would appear too that the younger, 

 and consequently the weaker, the animal is, the greater is the 

 surface which the aculei occupy. All the specimens which 

 I obtained were evidently adult, and only the anterior part 

 was armed with them, but those which Rudolphi received 

 from Bremser, and which were found in the intestines of the 

 cormorant {Pelecanus Carbo, Linn.), would seem from the fol- 

 lowing sentence to have been of different ages, and to bear 

 out this opinion. — " Apice posteriore excepto corpus aculeis 

 exiguis reflexis horret, in specimine minimo ad ultimum api- 

 cem protractis ; in reliquis major pars nuda est." — *Ent. Syn.' 

 p. 332. This subject will be recurred to in considering the 

 next species. 



Contrary to what is usual among the Entozoa, the males 

 in my specimens are nearly as large as the females ; the cau- 

 dal vescicle is not oblique, but directly terminates the body. 

 On cutting into several specimens in the distended state, a 

 fluid crowded with granules rushed out ; and on cutting the 

 females thousands of ova appeared. These were of the usual 

 form of the ova of the Echinorhynchi, — elliptic and linear. 



