THE MICROSCOPE. 



OCTOBER, 1893. 



Number 10. 



New Series. 



OBJECTS SEEN UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 

 2. — Head of a Tape Worm. 



[PHOTO-MICROGRAPH.] 



The tape worm is one of the Entozoa and is called Taenia cras- 

 sicolis. It is to be found in the intestines of many kinds of ani- 

 mals, the present illustration having been derived from one 



taken by Dr. Talmage from the liver of a rat. We call this " the 

 head " of the animal because it is at the end where a head ought 

 to be and because it is the organ nearest approaching a head. 

 But one will search in vain for eyes, nose, ears or mouth. The 

 prominent feature consists of the 30 to 40 projections which, in 

 the picture, look like horns ; but which, like tentacles, simply 

 enable the animal to attach itself to a place where it can obtain 

 nutriment. We say nutriment, and not food, because having 

 no stomach, it cannot digest food. It takes in through the 

 pores of its body, the nutriment its host has prepared for itself. 



