DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 65 



Bpiculuiu measures about 1 liue, and is furiiished witli a fuuuel-sliaped 

 membranous slieatb. The female is 1^ to 2 inclies in len^2;th, the thick 

 j)ortion varying from ^j to ^ of an inch. The posterior portion is brown- 

 ish, tilled with eggs, and ends in a blunt point. The ova are 0.052 mil- 

 limeters in diameter, with a transparent button-hke prolongation at each 

 pole. 



Like as with other round worms, the ova are laid in the bodj- of the 

 host, but passing out are hatched in water, &c., the young spending 

 their early life in pools, streams, «&c., and gain access to the body in 

 food and drink. The worm we are at present considering is especially 

 injurious because of its infesting the human being as well as the pig. 

 Living in the large intestine, it l3ores its head and much of its anterior 

 tililbrm body deeply (^ inch) into the mucous membrane and sucks the 

 blood. When present in large numbers it determines active inflamma- 

 tion of the large intestines, with costiveness or diarrhea, and a rapidly- 

 advancing bloodlessness. Inasmuch as the seat of its ravages, tho 

 caecum and colon, is specially obnoxious to the lesions of the true hog- 

 fever, epizootics caused by the undue prevalence of these worms are 

 very liable to be confounded with the latter disease. The worms are so 

 small that they are easily overlooked among the solid contents of the 

 viscera, unless s])ecial care is exercised in the search. 



^clerostomiun dcntatum (Diesing). — This is another small worm of the 

 ciTCCiun and colon of pigs, Ibund on one occasion only in my experimental 

 animals. It varies from -^- to i inch in length and is about i hue in thick- 

 ness, hence perhaps more easily overlooked than is the whip-worm, but 

 no less injurious. The body is of a dark gray, brown, or black, accord- 

 ing to its contents ; the tegument covered with very fine transverse striae : 

 head broad, mouth terminal, round, and furnished with six very sharp 

 horny teeth, with which to penetrate the mucous membrane. The gul- 

 let is broacl and club-shaped, and furnished with two salivary glands, 

 opening by delicate canals into the mouth. Intestine wide and sinuous. 

 3Iale, i- inch long, J-,7 inch in thickness ; tail furnished with a bell-shaped 

 membranous expansiosi, supported by three rays, but open on one side. 

 Testicle single and extended in a sinuous manner from near the gullet 

 to the tail. Two delicate spiculae. Female, 4 to 5 lines in length, tail 

 slowly narrovred and terminated abrupjrly with a sharp projecting point. 

 Ovaries very tortuous, extend from near the gullet to the tail, where 

 they end in a globular enlargement, beneath which, and close to the 

 point of the tail, is the vulva. The ovoid eggs are laid in the intestines, 

 and carried out Avith the dung, in which they will hatch, and give exit 

 to the embryo worms on the third day. Like all this family of round- 

 mouthed worms, this fixes itself to the mucous membrane by its mouth, 

 penetrates the tissues with its sharp teeth, and lives upon the blood. If 

 present in largo numbers it may establish such a drain that tho host 

 becomes pale and bloodless, rapidly loses conditiou, and perishes from 

 aua?mia. It will also, like the whip-worm, irritate the bowels and bring- 

 on fatal inflammation, with constipation or diarrhea. In both cases 

 alike tho lesions are in the caicum aud colon, the common seat of ulcera- 

 tion, &c., in tho specific fever ; hence the ejnzootic is liabhi to be set 

 down as hog-cholera. It should bo added that some members of (ho 

 family of Sclcrostomata, und nohihly iha iSclerostomum equinum {iSclcros- 

 tomum of the horse), pass a ]:>ortion of their early life encysted in tho 

 mucous membrane and even in other internal organs, and there is some 

 reason to su])pose that tlie Sckrostomum of the pig has similar habits, 

 which add uiaterially to the irritation caused by its i)resence hi large 

 numbers. The pigs in Virginia rei)uted as dying from hog-cholera, caused 

 5 sw 



