RESEARCHES IN HELMINTHOLOGY AND PARASITOLOGY. 1 39 



The animal parasites, of which drawings were exhibited, are as 

 follows : 



I . Trichonympha Agilis. This is a remarkable creature of obscure 

 affinity, but probably related with the Tiirbellaria on the one hand 

 and by evolution with the Ciliate infusoria on the other. The ani- 

 mal is about I -300th of an inch long and about half the breadth of 

 the length. It is fusiform, and is clothed with ciliate hairs of extra- 

 ordinary length. The head is mammilliform ; the posterior end of 

 the body from subacute to obtuse according as it is narrowed or 

 shortened by contraction. The cilia inv^esting the body appear to 

 consist of three sets — the shortest ones waving outwardly and down- 

 ward from the head ; a second set extending from the head the 

 length of the body, incessantly waving downward and swelling out- 

 wardly, and the third set, the longest of all, extending from the head 

 beneath the others in a longitudinal spiral manner far beyond the 

 posterior end of the body, where they form a loosely twisted fascicle 

 with divergent ends. The arrangement of the long cilia clothing the 

 body reminded him of the n3miphs in a recent spectacular drama, in 

 which they appeared with their nakedness barely concealed b}' long 

 cords suspended from the shoulders, and this arrangement has sug- 

 gested the name applied to the parasite. 



He was not positive whether he had been able correctly to inter- 

 pret the interior structure of the animal, but it appeared to him to 

 resemble more that of the Rhabdocoela than that of any of the proto- 

 zoa. No appearance of vascular or nervous system could be de- 

 tected. The animal appeared to be capable of ingesting particles of 

 solid food, frequently observed in considerable quantity in the stom- 

 ach occupying the posterior two-thirds of the body. The mouth 

 apparently was a rounded pore at the summit of the head. From 

 this a narrow tube expanded in a pharyngeal pouch communicating 

 behind with the capacious stomach. An anal outlet may exist at the 

 back end of the body, but was not detected. Opposite the conjunc- 

 tion of the pharyngeal pouch and the stomach a granular nuclear 

 bod}^ is constantly observed. 



Trichonympha, though incessantly and actively in motion, usually 

 remains stationary in position, but occasionally advances with feeble 

 jerking propulsion. The chief movements consist in frequent re- 

 traction or shortening and bending of the cephalic end with rapid 

 waving and swelling outwardly of the long ciliary hairs. The mo- 

 tion of the latter resembles the flowing of a thin sheet of water over 

 the brim of a fountain vase or basin sw^ayed to one side or the other 

 by a current of wind. The longest cilia, extending beyond the back 



