131 



interesting of the Sterelmintha, whether we consider the great size to 

 which they sometimes 

 attain, or their singular 

 construction. Several 

 species of these worms 

 infest the human body, 

 and many other forms of 

 them are met with in a 

 variety of animals. They 

 are usually found in 

 the intestinal passages, 

 where, being amply pro- 

 vided with nutritious 

 aliment, they frequently 

 grow to enormous di- 

 mensions, being not un- 

 usually twenty or thirty 

 feet in length ; and some 

 have been met with much 

 longer: it is therefore 

 manifest how prejudicial 

 their presence must prove 

 to the health of the ani- 

 mals in which they re- 

 side; and we are little 

 surprised at the emaciation and 

 weakness to which they generally 

 give rise. 



(342.) The Tcenia solium, the 

 species most usually met with in 

 the human subject, at least in our 

 own country, is that selected for 

 special description. The body of 

 this creature consists of a great 

 number of segments united toge- 

 ther in a linear series (fig. 67) : the 

 segments which immediately succeed 

 to the head (a) are very small, and 

 so fragile that it is rarely that this 

 part of the animal is obtained in a 

 perfect state ; they gradually, how- 

 ever, increase in size towards the 



middle of the bodv (d}. The first Immature segment of Tania 6olium: a, 



J ^ ' lateral canals ; b, ovary ; c d, accessory 



joint of the TaBnia, generally called glands; e, lateral sucker. 



the head, differs materially in structure from all the rest. This segment 



Taenia solium : a, head ; 6, c, d, segments of the body. 

 Fig. 68. 



