956 RECORD OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



tion of an embryo covered with a well-ciliated cuticle. A kind of 

 proboscis indicates the future cephalic region. No differentiation 

 takes place internally, as a rule, until the extrusion of the egg. 

 After this has occurred, a cascal depression commences to form below 

 the proboscis, and extends vertically into the body. It grows con- 

 siderably, and throws out a number of secondary diverticula, which 

 form an elaborate network, of vascular appearance, at different parts 

 of the body, especially in the tegumentary layer. At the same time 

 appear in the posterior region sumo usually spheroidal bodies, which 

 increase in number and bulk, and contain nitrogenous, glycogenous, 

 and fatty materials. They are j)robably gemmaB formed within the 

 embryo ; for when they are fully formed, it becomes disintegrated 

 and sets them free, when they move about with rapid contractions in 

 the surrounding medium. 



The nature of the ovum, as here set forth, shows this animal to 

 rank, at this stage, above all the other members of its class ; for the 

 Cfeca which it possesses represent the beginning of a digestive appara- 

 tus, and the vascular tree represents an excretory organ, while the 

 contractile gemmae are an entirely new factor in the anatomy of the 

 group. 



New Type of the Cestodes.* — M. Mouiez, impressed with the 

 necessity of a comparative study, has of late largely devoted himself 

 to these forms, and he has been rewarded by the discovery of a new 

 type, to which he gives the generic name of Leuckartia. It is an 

 unarmed Bothriocephalid, with both ventral and lateral genital organs. 

 It was found in the pyloric appendages of a salmon, from an unknown 

 locality. 



Among the interesting points discussed, special attention is due to 

 the account of the nervous system, which, as is well known, is so 

 difficult to make out distinctly in these worms. Here it is easily 

 seen. It does not, however, seem to persist for a long period, but to 

 early undergo a kind of fatty degeneration ; so that it is, therefore, 

 best studied in young joints. The author believes that Sommer and 

 Landois have mistaken for nerves the outer of the two blood-vessels 

 which they describe. In Bothriocephalus latus (old joints) the nervous 

 cords are, owing to the great development of the spermatozoa, pushed 

 to the ventral surface, and it is very much this position that the 

 German helminthologists give to their outer vessel. 



With regard to the systematic position of Leuckartia, the author 

 points out that, with the exception of TrioenopJiorus, the Bothrio- 

 cephalida have the genital orifices ventral in position, and have two 

 suckers, while the TjeniadsB have the genital orifices lateral and have 

 four suckers. The new genus belongs to the former group, for B. 

 proboscideus (as figui-ed by Blanchard) has both lateral and ventral 

 genital organs. 



New Cestodes. t — M. Moniez describes a new species of Tcenia, 

 from the intestines of the wild rabbits at Wimereux, under the name 

 of T. wimerosa. It is about 1 cm. long by 1^ mm. broad. The head 

 * ' Bull. Sci. De'p. du Nord,' ill. (1880) p. G7. t Ibiil-, P- 240. 



