OF THE HUMAN BODY. 25 



The same patient, in the following summer, 

 discharged a taenia represented also in PI. 1. fig. 

 3. In this collection of pieces, we also found the 

 head armed with fangs, as well as the tail : its 

 length was about thirty eight metres. We can- 

 not suppose tw^o taeniae of different species to have 

 lived together in the same individual. It is mor& 

 credible that both were developed at the same time, 

 that the former was evacuated when young, and 

 that the second grew larger merely because it was 

 about four months older. This admitted, we can- 

 not doubt that if the worm Ijad remained some 

 months longer in the intestines, it would have be- 

 come longer and larger, like that represented PL 

 II. fig. t, and that it would have acquired the 

 form of the large Taenia cucurhitina seen in the 

 plates of J.7idry,{27) of Clerici,[Z8) and of VaUis- 

 7ien,(S9) the joints of which exceed half an inch 

 in width. If animals, and even vegetables in in- 

 fancy, at puberty, in adolescence and old age, ex- 

 hibit great variety in their forms wliich are pecu- 

 liar to these several periods of their life, how can 

 it be pretended that taeniae must preserve the same 

 forms at the moment of their development, and af- 

 ter the full growth of their body ? The human 

 taeniae do not generally remain in the intestines 

 a sufficient time to come to their perfection ; seeing 

 that before this epoch they are expelled by art or 

 are accidentally killed and evacuated. 



For this reason the large taenia cucurhitina is 

 rarely obtained, such as Vallisneri{SO) particular- 

 ly 



