10 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



segment. The connecting (i.e. the median) portion is very 

 narrow and remains so even in mature segments, so that in these 

 latter the uterus consists of two large irregularly lobed structures 

 which almost touch each other along the midline but which are 

 actually connected only in the antero-dorsal part of the proglot- 

 tid. As the uterus becomes filled with eggs the stalk-like 

 portion of the wings comes to expand and lobes develop both in 

 the dorso-ventral and horizontal planes, but more especially 

 dorsal ly. The lateral growth takes place in such a way that the 

 uterus lies dorsally to the excretory ducts and nerve, but 

 partly folds round these to form a bay which is open towards 

 the ventral surface. It also lies dorsally to the vesiculee seminales 

 and the inner portion of each vagina. The latter is seen in 

 transverse and horizontal sections to skirt around the ventral 

 edge of the uterus, and between it and the ventral layer of trans- 

 verse muscle fibres. It penetrates between the dorsal longitudinal 

 muscle bundles to the subcuticular cells, the muscles thus coming 

 to be partly surrounded by the uterus (PI. i., fig. 2). The 

 tubercular appearance of many of the segments, a fact which led 

 to Krefft giving it the specific name of tuberculata, is partly due 

 to this fact and partly to imperfect preservation. The uterine 

 lobes or pouches in the transverse plane come near the surface 

 and probably as a result of pressure brought about by the con- 

 traction of the powerful longitudinal and dorso-ventral fibres, a 

 " tubercle " has been produced at the weakest point. In some 

 of the sections it was noticed that the uterus had reached the 

 surface. In entire stained preparations the pouches which lie just 

 below the surface may be seen as a series of rounded structures 

 projecting dorsally from the main mass of the sac. 



The eggs possess two shells, the thin outermost covering being 

 about 009 by 007 mm. Within this is a firm embryonic cover- 

 ing also of elliptical form, measuring 0047 by 0(>35 mm. A 

 very delicate membrane surrounds it. The embryonal booklets 

 are curved and very small ; Krefft was not able to recognise them. 



Systematic. — This parasite has been referred to by several 

 authors and has been placed in no less than four different genera. 

 Krefft called it a Tania as at his time this huge genus had not 

 been divided up systematically to any extent. In 18'Jl 

 Monticelli 6 regarded it as a synonym of r J'(t»ia bijaria, von 

 Sieb. In the same vear Blanchafd 7 suggested that it might 



« Monticelli— Boll. Soc. Nat. Napoli, v., 1891, p. 153. 

 7 Blancharcl — Mem. Soc. Zool. France, iv. 1891, p. 443. 



