NATURE OF THE DRACUNCULUS, OR GUINEAWORM. 119 
Young Filarie.—The whole uterus is distended with a dense mass of young of pretty 
nearly the same size, whilst intermingled with them in every part are crowds of germs, 
or “ pseudova’’*, and all intermediate grades between these and the most perfect form of 
the young worm met with within the body of the parent. Mixed up with these young, 
in the various stages of their development, are the remnants of the membranes which at 
first enveloped them, and some fine granular matter. 
The pseudova are doubtless formed in part in the small terminal ovarian tubes; but, 
from the totally irregular manner in which they are distributed amongst the more mature 
young, there can be little doubt that they are, during the whole period of the growth of 
the parasite, produced with great activity everywhere throughout the length and breadth 
ofthe uterus. At Mr. Busk's suggestion, I employed some of the Magenta-solution in 
the examination of the uterine contents, and, from the fact of its colouring all the 
youngest tissues most vividly, it brings into sight at once crowds of young in all stages 
of development, which, without its aid, are liable to escape observation.  Different-sized 
masses of germs, of a blood-red colour, may then be seen everywhere intermixed with 
the more mature and lightly coloured young; but, owing to their having been in spirits 
so long, they were not in so favourable a condition as could have been desired for 
examination. 
The smallest germ discoverable is about spoth of an inch in diameter, but the most 
common size is about 334,;th of an inch. From the frequency with which two or four of . 
these bodies are met with closely in contact, I am induced to think that they multiply 
also by fissiparous division, though this may be merely an accidental collocation. The 
size of the germs met with gradually increases; and when they are about j355th of 
an inch in diameter, they appear to be made up of a spherical mass of pretty large 
cells enclosed within a delicate envelope. This mass soon begins to increase in one 
direction more than another, becoming elongated and more or less irregularly twisted ; 
and about this time its investing membrane becomes ruptured (Pl. XXII. fig. 44), and 
the almost shapeless germ is thus early found to possess a distinct tail. From this stage 
onwards the young worm, often twisted like a corkscrew, becomes narrower and longer, 
assumes a more regular outline, and a fine granular instead of a cellular appearance 
(Pl. XXII. figs. 51-58). At last ruge: begin to form on its body ; and by degrees an alimen- 
tary canal becomes visible, and distinct parietes to the body bounding an abdominal 
cavity. The anterior part of the alimentary canal is the most distinct and the first to 
be differentiated. J 
The young seem to go on growing until they attain a size of about j;nd of an inch 
long by ;j4sth broad 1, and then development, rather than growth, seems to become the 
* The term proposed by Prof. Huxley for ova which have been produced by a process o ** parthenogenesis,” which 
will be shown hereafter to be the most probable mode of production of young in the Guineaworm. ; l 
t The size and rapidity of growth of these worms seem to depend, principally, pe the formative energy of their 
generative organs, and the rapidity with which fresh pseudova are continually being produced, as much as to the 
growth of those already formed, since this appears soon to reach a limit; and accordingly in the smallest of the speci- 
mens that I examined, measuring only 18 inches, there were not nearly as many developing germs as in those (of the 
same age) which measured from 30 to 36 inches. 
+ This is pretty nearly the size given by all observers who have measured the young, with the exception of 
R 2 
