CHAPTER XXVIIL THE PORK TAPE-WORM. 



(Taenia solium.} 



1. Form and Mode of Life. In its adult and sexually 

 mature condition tliis parasite lives in the small intestine 



of human beings. It consists of 

 a somewhat enlarged rounded ex- 

 tremity called the head, which is 

 provided with hooks and suckers 

 and is fixed to the mucous mem- 

 brane of the intestine, and of a 

 long body consisting of a very large 

 number of flat oblong segments 

 called joints or proglottides. The 

 part behind the head is slender 

 and is continually growing and 

 producing new segments, so that 

 the oldest and most mature seg- 

 ments are those at the posterior 

 extremity. There is no mouth or 

 anus, the animal being entirely 

 destitute of intestine and all other 

 digestive organs, obtaining its 

 nourishment from the digested 

 food of its host, by which it is 

 surrounded, 



The name Taenia meaning a 

 band, like the English name tape- 

 worm, refers to the characteristic 

 flattened shape of the animal. 

 When fully developed this tape- 

 worm may reach a length of 6 to 

 9 feet, and the presence of such 

 an enormous parasite in the intes- 

 tine has naturally a bad effect on the health of the host : 



366 



Fig 188. DIAGRAM OF Taenia 



gdlium AS IT APPEARS TO THE 

 NAKED EYE, ONLY REPRE- 

 SENT ATI VK PORTIONS FROM 

 DIFFERENT REGIONS BEING 

 SHOWN. 



