182 INSECT PESTS 



eating creatures, and could if we tried find all our susten- 

 ance from such food without eating meat. Every kind 

 of animal food may contain the ova of some kind of tape- 

 worm. The dog will get them from eating the raw flesh 

 of sheep, the fox from the rabbit, the cat from the rat 

 and so on. At the same time there is no need to go to the 

 fanatical lengths of the vegetarians. If we were obliged 

 to live in the forest in a primitive state, we should also 

 be obliged to eat nuts and to cHmb trees to get them. 

 The parallel need not be enlarged on. On the other 

 hand we can easily eat too much meat, which is a power- 

 ful stimulant, and if we eat it " under- done " there is 

 great danger of tapeworm ova being taken in while still 

 retaining their vitahty. The discovery of fire and cooking 

 is, therefore, civihzed man's chief protection against these 

 plagues, although it causes his teeth to decay prematurely 

 from want of use. The habit of eating raw sausages and 

 ham, as done by the Germans, brings its own penalty in 

 the fact that they suffer more than any other nation from 

 these ills. 



What really happens in the case of the Common Tape- 

 worm is as follows : — The creature is strictly speaking a 

 collection or colony of semi-independent animals, every 

 *' joint " or " bud " being complete in itself and containing 

 a vast number of eggs. The head, which is very small, 

 embeds its mouth-hooks in the intestinal wall and 

 nourishes the whole concern as well as forming fresh 

 "buds " almost ad libitum. When these are mature they are 

 released and the eggs subsequently dispersed, some of 

 them eventually finding their way into the pig's body. 

 There they become " resting-larvae," and bore right into 

 the pig's muscles, brain or other organ, and are not a bit 

 like the full-grown worm. 



If the pig died a natural death and was buried, these 

 larvae would never develop. When, however, pig becomes 

 pork and is eaten in a partially cooked state, these resting 

 larvae soon estabUsh themselves in their new surroundings 



