— 
106 H. CHARLTON BASTIAN ON THE STRUCTURE AND 
and the space between it and its containing sheath is occupied by dark-coloured oil- 
globules, supposed to be hepatic. The rectum is only about one-eighth of an inch long, 
very narrow, without any sheath, and attached to the ventral muscular band at the inner 
curvature of the tail. The organs of generation are described as consisting of a large 
cylindrical ovisae, extending through the body, of uniform calibre to within an inch and 
a half of either extremity, where it terminates abruptly at each end in a narrow blind 
tube; but no external communication or vulva could be discovered. The contents of this 
ovisac were innumerable vermicules, all of the same size, and some granules, which 
Mr. Carter considers as the remains of ovarian envelopes, though he has never been able 
to detect anything like a distinct membrane. He has never seen a male worm. 
Mr. Carter considers that the structure of the contained young and also of the 
“microscopic Filaride” of the island of Bombay, as observed by him, agrees in all 
essential particulars (size, of course, excepted) with the account above given, save that 
the young of the Guineaworm have never any trace of generative organs. Full par- 
ticulars of their anatomy will be found in the * Annals of Natural History’ for 1859. 
I have examined six specimens of Filaria medinensis, all of which were taken from 
the lower extremities of a well-known surgeon of Bombay, by whom they were given to 
Dr. Harley. The specimens were all of the same age, though of different sizes—four 
being about thirty inches long, one only eighteen inches, and the other three feet long. 
All were female and viviparous, and perfect specimens, with the exception of one, in 
whieh the head was wanting; and their good preservation was probably owing to the 
method of their extraction by a native of Bombay, who, after making a minute aperture 
in the integuments, as nearly as possible opposite the middle of the worm, passed under 
its exposed body a small hook, and then by gentle traction, at the same time that the skin 
around was kneaded, each worm was extracted at a single sitting of perhaps an hour or 
less, instead of by the tedious process of rolling it daily round a small piece of wood. 
As the manner in which this gentleman became affected with these parasites is pretty 
definite, both as to their mode of entrance and their age, I shall quote his account from 
a Report read to the Pathological Society of London by Dr. Harley. 
` After stating that he had been many years in Bombay, and never affected with 
Guineaworm, though accustomed often to be out shooting and drink freely of the 
water of wells, without being very particular as to quality, he says :—* At last, however, 
I one day diseovered that I had what at first appeared to me to be varicose veins, but 
which in a day or two I found to be Guineaworms in my legs. At first I was at a loss 
to account for the presence of a Guineaworm in my body, till I remembered that one 
day, whilst out shooting, one of my boots burst, and being too impatient to wait till 
another pair was brought, I took off both boots and stockings and went on shooting 
barefooted over a piece of swampy stubble; and I believe that the worms entered my 
feet on this occasion ; for after an interval of six or eight months the first worm appeared, 
and that is about the time generally allowed* for the worms to come to maturity in the 
human body.” 
1 will now proceed to give the results of my own observations, 
* As a rule, the period is certainly longer than this, . 
