124 TUE HELMINTHES. ^ 116. 



§116. 



In the Acanthocephali, the genital organs occupy a large portion of the 

 cavity of the body. They arise in the posterior portion, and are supported 

 by a Ligamentiun suspensorium, which extends from this last to the base 

 of the proboscideal sheath. 



In the females, there are neither proper ovaries, nor an uterus ; 'but in 

 tlieir place there are numerous oval, or round, flattened bodies of considei-- 

 able size, which float freely in the licjuid of the cavity of the body ; they 

 have nicely-defined borders, and are composed of a vesicular, granular 

 substance, and, as eggs are formed within them, they may be regarded as 

 so many loose ovaries. '" 



When the eggs have reached a certain size, they fall from the ovaries 

 into the cavity of the body. At this time they are ovo-elongute, have 

 only a single envelope, and contain both a vesicular and a finely-granular 

 substance, but no trace of a germinative vesicle. They continue to in- 

 crease in size, and two new envelopes are formed about them.*^ The 

 muscular canal which passes off from the simple vulva which is situated at 

 the posterior part of the body, may be regarded as a uterus. 



At the point where it is attached to the Ligajnentum suspe?isorium, it 

 becomes a campanulate or infundibuliform organ, whose borders float freely 

 in the cavity of the body, and thus the whole is comparable to a Tuba Fal- 

 lopii. The bottom of this bell-shaped organ communicates with the 

 superior extremity of the uterus by a narrow, valvular opening, which 

 presents a lateral, semilunar fissure. 



This whole organ is endowed with very active peristaltic motions, by 

 which the loose contents of the cavity of the body are absorbed ; and while 

 the larger ovaries are thrown out, the little immature eo'gs are returned into 

 the cavity of the body by the lateral fissure, — the more mature ones only, 

 reaching the uterus.-'^* This uterus, which is of variable length, opens 

 outwardly through a very short and narrow vagina. 



The males of Echbiorhynchus have usually two oval or elongated testi- 

 cles, one before the other, and attached to the Ligamentum suspensorium. 



of Taenia cucumerina (Crep/in, Observ. de 2 The long eggs of many Echinorhynchi are 



Entozuis fig. 12, 13) and cra«er(/br?7ii«, have the formed by the same process. They are aU colorless, 



remarka1)le arrangement of being grouped iu tens and may be distinguished by the peculiar aspect 



to twenties, and each group is surrounded by a of their middle envelope which at both extremities 



gelatinous envelope.* is constricted Uke a neck. But those of Echino- 



1 The ovaries of Echinorynchus were formerly rhyiichus gi^aa form an exception ; for they are 



taken both for mature eggs, and for cotyledons ; shorter and oval, theii- middle envelope is yellowish, 



and to this is due the very inaccurate figures of and, like the two others, has externally numberless 



them hy fVestrumb axii Cloquet (loc. cit.). Du- small obtuse spines. 'With Echinorh ync.hus stru- 



jardin, however (llist. d. Helm. PI. VXI. fig. D. mosiis, hystrix, angustatus, and proteus, the 



6), perceived their true nature. external envelope of the eggs presents the peculiar 



A stite of develo])ment which I have observed phenomenon that when pressed between two plates 



with many females of Echinorhynchus g-ibl/o.sus, of glass, it separates into very fine fibrillae. 

 would appear to throw some light upon the ques- 3 The nature of this campanulate TuOa Fallopii 



tion as to the part of the body where the ovaries has been wholly mistaken by Bojanus, yVestruinb 



are first formed. Here ihe Ligamentum suspen- and Cloquet. Burow (Echinorhynchi strumosi 



sorium had, over most of its extent, large granu- Anat. p. 22, fig. 1. g, fig. 6) was the first to 



lar globules, wliile the cavity of the body contained describe it, without however conveying the correct 



neither ovaries nor eggs. I think, therefore, that idea. See my description (Burdach's Physiol, 



this Ugament is the elementary material from which loc. cit. p. 197), which has been confirmed since 



the ovaries are developed under the form of glob- by Diijardin (Hist. d. Helm. p. 495, PI. VII. fig. 



ules, which, being subsiciuently detached, continue D. 5). 

 their development in the liquid of the cavity of the 

 body. 



* [§ 115, note 27.] See Fan Beneden (loc. cit. composed like those other animals, — withagennin- 

 p. 67), who has observed the eggs of the Cestodes ative vesicle, &c. — Ed. 



