1870. ] DR. T. S. COBBOLD ON A NEW ENTOZOON. 11 
fected embryos, present an average length of -1," by <1,” in width; 
but the fully developed embryos, when set free and unrolled, give an 
average measurement of ;1." from head to tail. The larvee, how- 
ever, are remarkably thin, the longest of them not exceeding the ston" 
in thickness ; yet, notwithstanding their smallness, they have already 
attained the general form of their parents, the finely pointed anterior 
extremity of the body scarcely exceeding the To009. 1 diameter. 
In this connexion, I must also not omit to mention that on re- 
moving the batch of parent worms from the phial in which they 
were sent, I observed several of them to be adhering to one another, 
the various points of union being marked by the presence of minute 
particles of débris. To the naked eye these particles presented a 
pale yellow colour, their irregular outline and general aspect sug- 
gesting that they were only patches of mucus, connective tissue, 
or something of that sort derived from the “host” during dissec- 
tion. However, to my astonishment, on microscopically examining 
one of these little masses, measuring about the 1,” in length, I 
found it to consist of thousands of embryos agglutinated together. 
So consolidated had they become by the action of the spirit in 
which they were preserved, that I had the greatest difficulty in 
isolating any one of them; and since, also, they were, individually, 
much shrivelled and twisted, their measurements could not be very 
accurately taken. Making all due allowance for contractions and 
alterations of shape, I did not find that their separate total lengths 
perceptibly exceeded that of the embryos obtained from the interior 
of the parent worms. In the mass they were coiled upon themselves 
and each other in inextricable confusion. I purposely dwell upon 
these apparently trivial matters because it seems to me of the highest 
importance to ascertain whether the escaped embryos were, or were 
not, caught in the act of migrating. They may have accumulated 
only as the result of accidental evacuation from specimens of the 
parent worms injured during the dissection of the “host ;” in this 
case, however, though the egg-envelopes would naturally have disap- 
peared, I should probably have noticed some of the freed embryos ina 
less perfectly developed condition than that in which all of them actu- 
ally appeared to be. Those who are acquainted with the migratory 
habits of the Nematode Entozoa will readily conclude that these 
embryos were, at the time of the “host’s” death, accomplishing 
what, in other cases, has been appropriately termed a “first active 
wandering” on their own account; and probably a passive trans- 
ference to some unknown intermediary bearer would, had they lived, 
have been essential to the further development of these particular 
larvee. Be that as it may, in the matter of ascertaining their mode 
of actual escape (supposing them to have obtained their freedom 
naturally) there yet remains the rather awkward circumstance that 
I have not yet succeeded in procuring evidence of the existence of 
any reproductive outlet in the body of the parent worm. 
In establishing a new genus for the reception of this interesting 
form of Entozoon, some explanation is certainly necessary. At once, 
therefore, I may remark that 1 should have preferred to designate 
