104 PROGRESS OF MICROSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 



length, and in all respects resembled the kidney worm, and also 

 reminded him of the worms ho had examined five years before. Upon 

 further dissection of the liver he found the worms not only free in the 

 portal veins, but in cysts in various portions of the organ ; also some 

 were found in freshly-cut holes, directly across the hepatic lobules. 

 The gall-bladder was distended with a dirty, yellowish fluid, the 

 consistency of soft-boiled eggs, and although no worms were found, 

 yet the ova were abundant, as they also were in the fluid of the cysts. 

 Being convinced that the worm formerly examined in the lungs was 

 the same as the worm now found in this new locality, and finding 

 it oviparous, he gave up his opinion as to its being a Filaria bron- 

 chialis. From the date of this discovery, he frequented the slaughter- 

 houses and pork-packing establishments, and found the worm in most 

 instances in the pelvis of the kidney, or in cysts in the fat around 

 them. Fom- times he has found the worm in the bronchial tubes, 

 twice in the hepatic vein and in the right side of the heart; also 

 in cysts throughout the fatty part of the animal. Frequently, when 

 no worms were discovered, the eggs were abundant in the thick 

 mucous-looking fluid in the pelvis of the kidney. This fluid con- 

 tained, besides eggs, desquamated renal tubules, or casts and oily 

 granules. In no instance has he found worms in an immature state, 

 which shows that the eggs, in all i^robability, go through some other 

 beast before they enter the swine, to become sexually mature. The 

 symptoms in hogs which are referred to the " kidney worm," are due to 

 a paralysis of motion in the hind legs ; the hog drags the hind quarters 

 along the ground from place to place in search of his food, although 

 it is by no means proven that the worm is the real cause, unless some 

 one is able to demonstrate its existence in some cerebro-spinal centre, 

 or some point more likely to destroy the reflex power in the cord 

 itself. The head and oral cavity are alike in male and female. The 

 oral cavity is rather oval than round, and is surrounded by a hexagonal 

 frame, each corner having a papilla and booklet, while each side is 

 armed with six serrate teeth. Looking into the oral cavity, it is 

 funnel-shaped, having three ojienings at the back, one of which con- 

 nects directly with the oesophagus, while the others aj)pear to connect 

 with the water vessels. The intestine is long and contains some 

 pigment granules, arranged in dendritic forms, throughout its length ; 

 the whole is thrown into convolutions, and gives an almost black 

 appearance to the worm, except when the white oviducts distended 

 with eggs, or the seminal vessels of the male are folded over the 

 intestine, when it has a white, mottled appearance. The caudal 

 extremity of the female is spindle-shaped, but has two little bursas 

 higher up. In the male it is formed by three-lobed biu-sae, above 

 which are two well-developed flexible spicula. — The American Journal 

 of Science and Art, June, 1871. 



Tlie Gregarinida and their Development. — M. Edouard Van Beneden 

 has very fully worked out this subject in advance, one may say, of 

 Lieberkiihn, and the other observers who have devoted themselves to 

 it. Indeed in the case of Gregarina gigantea, witli which the present 

 essay is almost alone crmcerned, he has watclied all its successive 



