NATURE OF THE DRACUNCULUS, OR GUINEAWORM. 105 
cate membrane. This pulpy substance forms rounded lobular projections into the cavity 
of the body, and are considered by Mr. Busk as analogous to somewhat similar processes 
observed in Strongylus and Ascaris—the “ appendices nourriciers” of Cloquet. After 
speaking of the longitudinal muscles, he says, ** On each side of these muscular bands is 
a thin tract of a peculiar substance, and in the middle of each of these tracts is a more or 
less transparent line. The substance composing the tracts is minutely granular, and pre- 
sents no other aspect under the highest power I have been able to employ. The trans- 
parent line appears to bea canal excavated in the granular substance, and is without visible 
walls." These granular tracts and canals I have been unable to discover in the worms 
examined by myself, and I shall further on have to suggest a possible cause of the difference. 
Mr. Busk also describes a straight narrow intestinal canal of uniform calibre, extending 
from the mouth to near the posterior part of the body, where it has an obscure cecal 
ending. Hecould discover no trace of an anal aperture. Around this narrow alimentary 
canal, between it and the rounded processes of the inner tube, he states that the generat 
cavity of the body is filled with innumerable small worms, all of the same size, with more 
or less granular matter. He did not detect that these young worms were contained in 
a genital tube. 
Mr. Carter has written three papers* of great interest on the anatomy of the Dracun- 
culus and the “microscopic Filaride” of the island of Bombay; but it is to his last and 
longest communication, embodying the results of his most recent investigations, that I 
shall have principally to refer. The great care which Mr. Carter has taken, and the 
numerous observations he has made with a view to throw some light upon the early his- 
tory of the Guineaworm, are most valuable contributions towards a scientific elucidation 
of this very difficult question; and if followed up by equally zealous attempts by others 
enjoying the same advantages, the enigma would doubtless soon receive a final solution. 
He gives a full description of the anterior extremity, describing the mouth as terminal, 
punctiform, and surrounded by a smooth-bordered quadrangular space, and four papillze 
—two large and two small. Tail presenting the usual hooked appearance, but no anal 
aperture. The body consists of a firm, cylindrical integument, lined with a coating 
of muscular fibres, within which again, loosely suspended by delicate filaments of cellular 
tissue, in the peritoneal cavity, are the alimentary canal and generative organs. The 
muscular coat, he says, is composed of delicate circular fibres, adhering to the r 
tegument, between it and the two large longitudinal muscles. He also mentions - sarcoid 
processes in about the last inch and a half of the anterior and posterior extremities, 
projecting from the integuments into the cavity of the body. A 1i t ry canal divided 
into cesophagus, intestine, and rectum, the two former being contained within a commo 
peritoneal sheath, having a constriction at their point of junction, and of which that 
surrounding the œsophagus is the wider. The cesophagus, which is about two inches in 
length, and very narrow, has also a muscular sheath within the peritoneal. The diameter 
of the intestine itself is about three times as great as that of the oesophagus, with which 
it is continuous at the constriction in the peritoneal sheath. It is uniform in calibre, 
* Trans. of Med. and Phys. Soc. of Bombay, 1853, HE 45; Annals of Nat. Hist., 3rd ser., vol. i. 1858, P. 410 ; 
Ibid. vol. iv. 1859, pp. 28, 98. . : 
