]58 Miscellaneous, 



authors, namely, the presence in the intestines of the dogs of a much 

 larger number of Tape-worms than that of the heads of Coenurus, 

 but expresses a hope that, by the continuation of their experiments, 

 those gentlemen themselves will be able to clear up the mystery. 



Referring to the failure of MM. Pouchet and Verrier in producing 

 staggers in sheep by the administration of mature ova of Tcenia ser- 

 rattty he shows that in experiments made simultaneously at Louvain, 

 Giessen, and Copenhagen, with ova obtained from a single dog which 

 had been fed with Coenuri, precisely the same phenomena were pro- 

 duced nearly after the same lapse of time. In all these cases the 

 young sheep were attacked by staggers about the fifteenth day, — the 

 only difference being that, at Copenhagen, only two out of three' 

 sheep were affected. The failure of the French experimentalists is 

 ascribed by M. Van Beneden to their having administered ova of 

 Teenia serrata instead of those of T. coenurus. 



M. Van Beneden also communicates to the Academy the results 

 of an experiment just completed by M. Leuckart. 



For some years a second species of T(^nia, the T. mediocanellata, 

 has been indicated in the human subject, but its mode of introduc- 

 tion and the characters of its Cysticercus were unknown. M. Leuc- 

 kart has administered ova of Tcenia mediocanellata to calves, and in 

 a short time found a development of Cysticerci, especially in the 

 muscles, so abundant as to cause a sort of leprosy. The CysticercuSy 

 while still in the cysts of the calf, presents all the distinctive charac- 

 ters of the adult tcenia. Thus Tape-worm is developed by the use 

 of veal and beef ; but it is a distinct species, which has always been 

 confounded with Tcenia solium. In the present state of science, it 

 may be asserted that Tcenia solium is introduced into the human 

 body by pork ; T. mediocanellata by veal and beef; and the Bothrio- 

 cephaluSy or Broad Tape-worm of the older writers (in Switzerland, 

 Poland, and Russia), by water*. 



At the Meeting of the Academy of Sciences on the 16th of June, 

 MM. Pouchet and Verrier replied to Prof. Van Beneden's remarks, 

 asserting that they have not committed the error ascribed to them 

 by him, as, if his Tcenia coenurus be really a distinct species, of which 

 they express great doubts, it was this that they administered to their 

 young sheep. They add that in a recent experiment, in which each 

 of two dogs received a hundred heads of Coenurus cerebralis, the 

 examination of the intestines two months after the administration 

 showed in one dog two specimens of Tcenia cucumerina^ 50 centi- 

 metres in length, and filled with ova, and in the other, two of T. ser- 

 rata, one 12 millimetres and the other 20 centimetres in length. — 

 Gomptes Rendus, June 2 and 16, pp. 1157 and 1207. 



* Dr. Koch, of St. Petersburg, has lately stated that the embryos of 

 Bothriocephalus latus are covered with vibratile cilia, and that, in the form 

 of Infusoria, they live free in the water. He adds this interesting remark, 

 that at Moscow, where spring-water is drunk, the Bothriocephalus is rare ; 

 whilst at St. Petersburg, Riga, and Dorpat, where river-water is used, it is 

 very common. 



