from Nyctereutes procyonides. 5} 
He says that after arrival in the peritoneum the young 
animals soon become dropsical, and that it is then very diffi- 
cult to tell their degree of development, and it is only to be 
done by sections. 
I now propose to give a short account of my specimens, 
and to compare them with his two stages. 
As will be seen from Prof. Garrod’s description, they were 
present in immense numbers, lying loosely in the peritoneal 
cavity, although coiled and twisted amongst themselves, 
especially one heap in seemingly inextricable confusion lying 
between the liver and stomach. 
Several were preserved for a few days in ordinary methy- 
lated spirit, and some of these were afterwards placed-in 
absolute alcohol. Unfortunately no investigations were made 
whilst the animals were still alive and before reagents were 
applied. The method employed that gave the most satisfac- 
tory results was as follows:—Worm was imbedded in cacao- 
butter ; a series of sections were cut; and these were stained 
on the slide with magenta; they were afterwards clarified by 
oil of cloves and mounted in Canada balsam. 
Naked-eye characters.—If we divide them into an anterior 
swollen extremity and a posterior continuationor tail, then, with 
one exception (fig. 4), they all have the same general appear- 
ance about their anterior swollen extremity (vide figs. 1, 2, 3). 
This extremity is more or less ovoidal, covered by a smooth 
cuticle ; and anteriorly there is a depression which is bounded 
by two prominent rounded lips; but there is no apparent 
difference of cuticle like that between mucous membrane and 
skin. This depression is the external orifice of a blind canal 
(vide fig. 5). Posteriorly this anterior swelling is continuous 
with the tail, there generally being some deep and well- 
marked furrows where the one passes into the other. The 
tail is extremely variable in all its dimensions. 
In some the tail is very long: a total length of 4 inches was 
the longest I measured ; but I do not know that that was the 
limit, as some of the specimens were so brittle that it was 
impossible to unravel the mass without breaking them. In 
others, on the other hand, the tail was reduced to a minimum, 
though not absent, the specimen being °2 inch. 
The diameter of this tail varied not only in different speci- 
mens, but also in the same specimen, being at one part con- 
tracted in length and thickened, at others greatly attenuated 
(vide fig. 4)—this being solely due to the effect of the 
aleohol on the muscular fibres, though the tail was normally 
much longer in some specimens than in others: the thinnest 
tails were not necessarily the longest, and vice versa. 
1* 
