DR. T. S. COBBOLD ON ENTOZOA. 159 



order to signify my adhesion to the view of Siebold and others as to their earthy natui-e. 

 Helminthologists express various opinions in regard to their structure and function. All the 

 older writers speak of them as "ova ; " whilst other, more recent observers, following Esch- 

 richt, ascribe to them a nutritive function. The late Prof. William Smith of Cork apparently 

 adhered to this latter view, for in his interesting paper on " Measled Pork," he designates 

 these corpuscles " assimilating cellules*," whilst the distinguished Belgian entozoologist, 

 Prof. Van Beneden, attributes to them a still higher organization, calling them cutaneous 

 glands t. The ordinary cellules of the parenchyma were foimd to be comparatively small, 

 requiring the aid of a quarter-inch lens for their satisfactory definition. The epidermic cells 

 showed in profile very fine markings, indicating a columnar epithelium ; and immediately 

 beneath the corium there were outlines of anastomosing tubes, which appeared to represent 

 a water- vascular system. The armature of the retractile proboscides is rather complicated ; 

 each proboscis being made up of numerous segments, and every joint supporting qua- 

 druple rows of four hooks, sixteen in all ; the superior set being disproportionately large. 



Having thus cursorily alluded to five different forms of Entozoa infesting the Haddock, 

 I pass to the consideration of worms found in the Coal-fish, common Cod, and Ling. 



Merlangns carbonarius. Morrhua vulgaris. — Numerous examples of Ascaris clavata 

 (R.) occupied the intestinal canal of one individual. No other species of Entozoa were 

 detected in the limited number of specimens examined. In a Cod examined on the 15th 

 of Mai'ch, 1855, two specimens of Bothriocephalus rugosus had severally attained a length 

 of nearly fifteen inches, and their anterior segments, for an inch or more downwards, were 

 so firmly impacted within the pancreatic caeca, that it was found impossible to dislodge 

 them without injuring the filamentary head and neck. As if to make the anchorage 

 doubly secure, the cartUaginoid thickening of the invaded pancreatic caecum had dege- 

 nerated into a calcareous and contracted cyUnder, twisted upon itseK in various ways. 



Zota molva. — On the 31st of March, 1855, two kinds of nematoid worms, differing in 

 relative size, were obtained from the intestinal tube. The smaller species, about half 

 an inch in length, may be referred to an entozoon described by authors under a variety 

 of names. It is the Cucullanus marinus of Zeder and Mliller, the C. foveolatua of 

 Rudolphi, and the Dachnitis globosa of Dujardin (figs. 20-23). The vaginal orifice of 

 the female is situated near the middle of the body, being protected by two prominent folds 

 of integument. The spicules of the male, two in number, are sabre-shaped, and there is 

 a spacious sucker-Uke depression in front of the anal opening. The larger round-worms 



* Microscopical Journal, vol. v., description of pi. 2. 



t Recherches sur les Vers cestoides, p. 23 : — " Us consistent dans de courts csecums l^irement ramifies, et s&rkent 

 un mucus destin^ a lubrifier la surface du corps." 



Since the above was written, a paper by M. E. Claparede has appeared in Siebold and KoUiker's Zeitsch. f. 

 Wissensch. Zoologie, vol. ix. p. 99, on the subject of the calcareous corpuscles of the Trematoda, in which it is shown 

 that these bodies are lodged in the dilated extremities of branches of the so-termed " water-vascular" or excretory 

 ■system of vessels. This interesting fact seems to have been demonstrated to the satisfaction of Joh. Miiller, Yirchow, 

 Lachmann, and others, and to have been previously known to, though not published by. Dr. G. Wagener. And with 

 respect to it, it may be remarked that so far back as 1830, Laurer pointed out that the ultimate branches of this 

 system of vessels terminated in minute vesicular dilatations in Amphistomum conicum, although a similar condition 

 could not be detected by Nordmann in Diplostomum mlvens. 



