LEUCKART, ON TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 169 



Halle, a large quantity of human flesh, containing a great 

 abundance of Trichina. With this I fed a number of puppies 

 and two young pigs ; and examined one of the former on the 

 fourth, and one on the seventh day afterwards. In both I 

 found innumerable free Trichina, which, however, in the first 

 case were intermixed Avith others still in the encysted con- 

 dition. The free worms were full grown. In the second dog 

 some of them were 3 mm. (about ^ inch) long, and, at any 

 rate in that animal, were all sexually mature. 



As I do not intend, on this occasion, to give a complete 

 account of my observations, it will be sufficient to say a few 

 words respecting these mature Trichince. 



The females were by far the more numerous, being in pro- 

 proportion to the males, perhaps, as forty to one. They were 

 found between the villi of the intestine, as well as in the 

 intestinal mucus and in the fseces ; in the colon, csecum, and 

 second half of the small intestine, but especially.in the former 

 situations, in such numbers, that in a portion of mucus, or of 

 mucous membrane, about the dimensions of a lentil bean 

 there would be found, on the average, from six to ten spe- 

 cimens. 



Of the organs in the female body, the uterus is by far the 

 most considerable. It is a simple, very thick canal, occupy- 

 ing in the posterior half of the worm nearly the entire cavity 

 of the body, and opening with a constricted neck at the 

 posterior border of the anterior fourth. Its contents consist 

 of ova of comparatively very large size, and exhibiting all 

 stages of segmentation and embryonic development. The 

 female Trichina are viviparous nematodes, whose embryos are 

 of disproportionate length. The number of ova and embryos 

 in the largest specimens (the smaller, for the most part, contain 

 none) may be estimated at about a hundred or more. 



With the exception of this uterus and their size, the 

 mature Trichince differ in no respect from the well-known 

 T. spiralis. 



The male Trichinae are smaller than the female, rarely 

 measuring more than 2 mm. (about O'l inch) in length. 



This deficiency in length is referrible more particularly to 

 the posterior half of the body, beginning at the commence- 

 ment of the chyle-stomach, and constituting the portion in 

 which are included, besides the stomach, the simple tubular 

 testes, containing innumerable very minute spermatic cor- 

 puscles (which might also be perceived in the genital tube of 

 the female). The opening of the testis is placed at the 

 hinder extremity of the body, immediately in front of the 

 anus. This extremity of the worm is not curved, but, on the 

 other hand, is characterised by the presence of two short 



