DU. T. S. COBBOLD ON THE LAEGE HUMAN ¥LUKE. 287 



forms liitherto found in oysters or in fish have any genetic rela- 

 tion to the flukes of man, is a question that cannot very well be 

 settled in the absence of direct experimental proof. I shoitld 

 add that it was not until after their visit to the interior of the 

 country, some 130 miles distant from Niugpo, that the symptoms 

 which Dr. Johnson and myself consider to have been due to the 

 presence of the parasites made their appearance. Whilst in the 

 country they freely partook of freshwater fish, and on one occa- 

 sion they received a quantity of oysters that had been sent up 

 from Ningpo. The missionary assured me that the fish were 

 always thoroughly well cooked. 



From the size and almost leathery texture of the two flukes 

 which were in the first instance submitted to my notice, I at once 

 recognized the species ; but as they were spirit-specimens, I re- 

 quested that if any more examples were obtained they should be 

 sent to me in the fresh state. Fortunately others were brought 

 in a few days, when, from an examination conducted whilst they 

 were still fresh, I was able to make out several details of struc- 

 ture which had hitherto escaped notice. Altogether I secured 

 seven specimens, three of them being in a mutilated condition. 

 In what way these mutilations (as shown by the dried speci- 

 mens) occurred I have not been able to make out, either by per- 

 sonal observation or by questioning the bearers. Two of the pa- 

 rasites look as though their bodies had been carefully excised 

 near their centre. Such new facts as I have gleaned were derived 

 from two comparatively small specimens, one of which, in the 

 dried state, has since been deposited in the anatomical department 

 of the University Museum at Oxford. I may add that I took the 

 earliest opportunity of bringing some of the specimens under Mr. 

 Busk's attention, when he at once recognized them as referable 

 to the species he had so long ago discovered. 



Of the fourteen original specimens found by Mr. Busk, several 

 have been lost. The one that he himself gave me I handed over 

 to Professor Leuckart ; and it is figured in his work (Die mensch. 

 Par. i. s. 586). A second is preserved in the Museum attached 

 to the Middlesex Hospital ; and a third is contained in the Mu- 

 seum of the Eoyal College of Sui'geons. This last-named speci- 

 men is the best of the original set. It supplied me Avith the few 

 details of structure figured in outline in my ' Introductory Trea- 

 tise ' (fig. 42, p. 193), published in 1864 ; and it also in part 

 formed the basis of the description of the species communicated 



