On the structure of T.ienia coiifusa VV»rd. 485 



glottids from which a part of the eggs have escapcd the braiiches 

 oftou bücome thin iiear the point of attachment to the maiii stem. 



The branching begins first at the anterior end of the uterus and 

 gradually extends backward, the eggs seeming to pass down the tube 

 and niass at the anterior end. As the branches increase in nuraber 

 and size, the proglottids lengthen and the generative organs, for the 

 niost part, gradually disappear. Finally, the uterus with its oflfshoots 

 comes to occupy the entire field within the limits of the excretory 

 canals (Fig. 2). 



In the ripe proglottids, the uterus consists of a main stem with 

 from 14 to 18 lateral branches which are generally very irregularly 

 disposed throughout the parenchyma, rarely running out perpendicu- 

 larly to the main stem, as is the common method in T. sagmata. 

 Usually they extend only a very short distance before they split up 

 into two and sometime three branches which again often divide in a 

 similar way. They seldom extend in a straight line but have a more 

 or less pronounced sinuous outline. More resemblance to the proglot- 

 tids of T. solium is shown, than tt> those of T. saginata, but the uterus 

 extends forward to the anterior end of the proglottid, and the number 

 of branches is greater than in T. solium. The ends of the branches 

 are usually swollen into large, irregulär, club-shaped masses, which 

 border on the excretory canals. At the anterior end, there are usu- 

 ally from three to seven peculiar tassle- or vase-shaped branches, 

 which extend forward to the very edge of the proglottid. They are 

 so arranged that when two proglottids are separated, the end of the 

 Uterus is torn open and the eggs set free. According to Leuckart 

 (1886, p. 424), the eggs are set free at the anterior border of the 

 proglottid in T. saginata also. At the posterior end as in T. sagi- 

 nata the uterus falls short of the edge of the proglottid by from 2 

 to 3 mm. 



The branches at the anterior and posterior ends, especially the 

 latter, are longer than the others and lie more obliquely to the long 

 axis of the segment, The posterior ones are also usually more highly 

 branched and fuller on the outer side, in consequence of which, they 

 have the appearance of bending or drooping into a sort of plume-like 

 shape. This is especially marked in the detached ripe proglottids. 

 In these also, the central stem is sometimes very thin and the 

 branches, as already mentioned, of very small diameter at their 

 points of attachment. There seems to be no Omission of branches 

 on the side occupied by the pore, although the ones lying in its vici- 



Zool. Jahrb. XI. Abth. f. Syst. g^ 



