189 



Chapter XXVI. 



THE CYSTICEECUS TEL^ CELLULOSE. 



The Cysticercus telae cellulosae^ is the only species 

 of the cysticerci which need be described here. 



Like the hydatids, it is commonly enclosed in a 

 cyst formed of areolar tissue, which is more or less 

 condensed, according to the nature of the organ in 

 which it is developed ; it is usually soHtary. The 

 cyst may undergo modification of structure, and may 

 acquire greater consistence and thickness, in propor- 

 tion to the length of time during which it has 

 existed ; the vesicular worm itself experiences 

 various changes, the termination of which is that it 

 is probably destroyed, whilst its empty and modified 

 cyst remains. Laennec, having observed vesicles in 

 the Kver of a person in whom cysticerci were found 

 in several organs of the body, considered that these 

 vesicles were the cysts of former cysticerci ; analo- 

 gous facts which have been remarked in the instance 

 of hydatids, and certain nematoid worms of which 

 the cysts remaui after the entozoa have been destroyed, 

 and the striking alterations which have been demon- 

 strated in cysticerci of old standing, conduce to 

 render this view very probably a correct one. 



This species of cysticercus is most frequently met 

 with in the intermuscular areolar tissue of the trank, 

 of the limbs, of the heart, and of the intestines, in 



^ The name of this species of Cysticercus is derived from the 

 circumstance of its being found in the areolar, or as it was 

 formerly termed cellular, tissue. The word "telse," although 

 grammatically necessary, is commonly omitted by writers. 



