RECREATIVE NATURAL HISTORY. 



Ml 



burrower even greater capabilities of being subjected to sub- 

 division. From the consideration of the inhabitant* of the noil 

 and the sand, let us take a glance at some of the strange organ- 

 isms we find unerringly following out the law* of increase, 

 assimilation, and reproduction in the tissues of other living 

 organisms. The origin of some of those is extremely obscure, 

 and we are compelled to content ourselves with mere speculation 

 concerning it. A familiar example of the mystery which hang* 

 over and surrounds parasitic life is to be found in the frendeet 

 worm of Abyssinia, and the guinea-worm of India. It is 

 popularly believed, and not without much show of reason, that 

 tho minute ova, germ, or whatever else it may be, is taken into 

 the human system with the drinking water. That this notion 

 is likely to bo correct is shown by the fact that those who 

 make use of water token from tho ponds produced during the 

 rainy season ore es- 

 pecially liable to its 1 

 attacks, whilst we 

 have found that the 

 inhabitants of native 

 villages, near which 

 clear rapid rivers 

 flow, are compara- 

 tively free from its 

 attacks. 



Sir Samuel Baker, 

 in speaking of this 

 curious pest, says : 

 " There was ono com- 

 plaint that I was 

 obliged to leave en- 

 tirely in the hands 

 of the Arabs. This 

 was called frendeet; 

 it was almost tho cer- 

 tain effect of drink- 

 ing the water that, in 

 the rainy season, is 

 accumulated in pools 

 upon the surface of 

 the rich table-lands, 

 especially between 

 the Atbara and Ka- 

 tariff." Frendeet 

 commences with a 

 swelling of one of the 

 limbs, generally ac- 

 companied with in- 

 tense pain. This is 

 caused by a worm se- 

 veral feet in length, 

 but no thicker than 

 a packthread. The 

 Arab cure is to plas- 

 ter the limb with cow 

 dung, which is their 

 common application 

 for almost all com- 

 plaints. They then proceed to make what they term doors, through 

 which the worm will be able to escape ; but should it not be able 

 to find one exit, they make a great number, by the pleasant and 

 simple operation of pricking the skin in many places with a red- 

 hot lance. In about a week after these means of escape are pro- 

 vided one of the wounds will inflame, and assume the character 

 of a small boil, from which the head of tho worm will issue. 

 This is then seized and fastened, either to a small reed or piece 

 of wood, which is daily and most gently wound round, until, in 

 the course of about a week, the entire worm will be extracted, 

 unless broken during the operation, iu which case severe inflam- 

 mation will ensue." 



The manner of drawing forth the guinea-worm of India differs 

 but little from that above described, except that the punctures 

 with the heated spear are omitted. What can be more strangely 

 inscrutable than the laws which influence the existence and 

 development of this justly dreaded creature, lurking hidden in 

 some microscopic form in countless myriads amongst the lakes 

 and rain deposits of vast tracts of wilderness, until some chance 

 brings a human victim to furnish an abiding place for the 



creature to develop in! How too speoies is propagated who 

 shall say P Probably the frendeet worn is bat, after all, aa 

 immature organism, and capable of fortlMr Ktamnrphosh. as 

 we find in the case of the Mmimthm, or intestinal worm. tho- 

 strange, anomalous beings, who appear to bid lidJMili to ah 

 acknowledged natural laws. In some we find a total ihssnni of 

 the digestive organs, all nutritive matter penetrating their 

 tissues by endosmosis, just as it would enter tit* pores of a con- 

 densed form of sponge. 



The reproduction of the race is brought about in a most extra- 

 ordinary manner. Research has shown that .fresh members of 

 tho family may be called into existence by a system of spon- 

 taneous breaking up into lengths, the easting forth of oflshooU 

 or buds, and the deposition of eggs. It may be that OB* 

 creature combine* within itself the united functions of both 



male and female, or 

 perchance there may 

 be found the two 

 sexes distinct. It is 

 then that the egg d*- 



] .-,-: :. !* ,. Iv.-. 



but at this stage we 

 find that a series of 

 transformations have 

 to be carried out 

 and passed through 

 which appear almost 

 incredible in their 

 trangeness. Here 

 the axiom that liki> 

 begets like entirely 

 foils us. The egg 

 gives birth to a crea- 

 ture differing entirely 

 from the parent, and 

 although, so to 

 speak, in the transi- 

 tion or larva stage 

 itself, this creature 

 is found capable, 

 without the process 

 of fecundation being 

 passed through, of 

 producing a brood or 

 broods of other im- 

 mature creatures still 

 in the larva stage, 

 which may in time he- 

 come developed into 

 the form of the origi- 

 nal parent organism. 

 Of this law we find 

 a familiar example in 

 the vesicle or bladder 

 formed in the tissues 

 of the pig when suffer- 

 ing from the disease 

 popularly known as 



" measles." The name applied to this peculiar form of para- 

 site is Cytticerau cellulosa, but it has been unfortunately 

 proved that it is merely the larva or immature young of the 

 tapeworm (or tcenia), which comes rapidly to a matured form in 

 the intestines of any human being who has unfortunately and 

 unwittingly swallowed meat in which the vesicle had its abiding 

 place. 



Fig. 6 shows a portion of one of these creatures, together 

 with two separated joints. 



Thus we see that by no system of reasoning can we arrive at 

 any just conclusion as to what description of perfect being 

 amongst the family of hflminthcr, and some other parasitical 

 worms, may be in the end brought to light by the metamor- 

 phoses through which the immature brood or larvae pass. There- 

 fore it behoves us to note carefully such results as we may 

 absolutely witness, and to take nothing for granted without 

 actual demonstration. 



A consideration of the habits of certain winged insects which 

 deposit their ova in living animals we must reserve for a future 

 paper. 



