256 PARASITES OF MAN 



SECTION IV. PART I. ACANTHOCEPHALA (Thornheaded 



worms). 



Echinorhynchus gigas, Goeze. There is but one recorded 

 instance of the occurrence of this entozoon in the human body. 

 This is the oft-quoted case by Lambl, given in the ' Prager 

 Yierteljahrschrift' for 1859. Lambl, indeed, described it as a 

 separate species (E. hominis), but as the worm was a sexually- 

 immature female, its identification with E. gigas, notwith- 

 standing Schneider's great authority, can hardly be regarded 

 as absolutely certain. The worm was found in the small 

 intestine of a boy of nine years, and measured only rather more 

 than the fifth of an inch in length. As Leuckart hints, the 

 worm may be Echinorhynchus angustatus, or possibly the E. 

 spirula, a species found in various South American apes (Cebus 

 and Jacchus), and also in the Barbary ape (Inuus). 



In 1872, Welch, unaware of Lamb I' s case, announced the 

 discovery of " the presence of an encysted Echinorhynchus in 

 man/' The minute parasite found by him occurred in a 

 soldier, thirty-four years of age, who died at Netley, but who had 

 contracted the worm in India. " It was situated in the 

 jejunum, immediately beneath the mucous coat, and formed an 

 oval prominence in the interior of the gut." Speaking with 

 great confidence, this able microscopist further remarks : 

 " The character and arrangement of the booklets unequivocally 

 shadowed forth a species of Echinorhynchus for the first time 

 discovered as a representative of the Acanthocephala in the 

 human body." Along with his elaborate description Welch 

 gives several figures ; but these, so far from producing con- 

 viction as to the accuracy of his inferences, have unfortunately 

 led me to believe that the parasite in question would be more 

 properly referred to the Pentastomidce. But for Heller's 

 acquiescence I 'might have more fittingly noticed this worm 

 elsewhere. Davaine falls into the same view, and moreover 

 accepts Lewis's " Echinorhynque du Chien," which I have 

 shown to be a nematode (G heir acanthus robustus). It is thus 

 that serious errors creep into the literature of parasitism. 



In the adult state the female Echinorhynchus gigas is a 

 huge species, occasionally reaching two feet in length, with a 

 breadth of one third of an inch. The male rarely exceeds 

 three inches. This worm is common in swine, both wild and 



