REPTILIAN TAPEWORMS. 31 



muscular. This and adjacent parts of the female ducts extended 

 back beyond the ovary to the hinder border of the proglottid. 



The uterus of this worm shows a very remarkable feature 

 which in detail is different from anything that has been hitherto 

 described in any tapeworm. I believe that I am right in saying 

 that an independent uterine opening is not found in any of the 

 Tetraphyllidea or Cyclophyllidea — that it is, in fact, confined to 

 the Pseudophyllidea. The present species, allied to a genus 

 Avhich perhaps stands intermediate between the Tetraphyllidea 

 and Cyclophyllidea, is thus so far unique in possessing inde- 

 pendent uterine openings which lie, as in Jiotlirioceplialus^ etc., 

 upon the ventral surface of the body. While there is this general 

 resemblance to the lower group of tapeworms, there are plenty 

 of differences in detail between the conditions which obtain in 

 this species and those which characterise the Bothriocephalidae 

 and their immediate allies. When the ripe proglottid is viewed 

 as a transparent object in its entirety, i. e,, without undue 

 pressure, the uterus is seen to occupy the middle region of the 

 body, and to be a quite narrow tube with regular paired diver- 

 ticula, which extend but a little way laterally. 



In addition to this there were in the median line of the pro- 

 glottid a series of medianly situate oi'ifices, one behind the other, 

 extending through the greater part of the proglottid and rendered 

 especially conspicuous by virtue of the fact that granules of black 

 pigment had accumulated in every instance near to these orifices. 

 I could not in such preparations actually see the tube which put 

 this series of orifices into communication with the underlying- 

 uterus. But the orifices, on focussing down, were quite plain and 

 could not be missed. In transverse sections (text-fig. 9) all of the 

 structural characters were easily confirmed and extended. The 

 utei"us is seen to occupy but a comparatively small space in the 

 middle of the proglottid, by reason of which the present species 

 contrasts with Ichthyotcenia varia or /. nilotica. The uterus in 

 a given section consists of a median stem which is a small tube ; 

 from this arise continually a series of paired diverticula, which 

 are at times somewhat ear-shaped or crescentic in outline. The 

 curvature is downwards and they expand at their blind ends 

 (text-fig. 9 B). The diverticula furthermore show a difference in 

 structure from the median stem of which they are outgrowths. 

 Their exterior is more or less covered with a layer (text-fig. 9 A) 

 of pear-shaped glandular-looking cells, which resemble those 

 found decking the cirrus and which are also of the same nature 

 as the glandular cells of the subcuticular layer. 



These uterine pores are quite as visible in sagittal sections 

 (text-fig. 10) and are then seen to exist along the entire length of 

 the proglottid, being situated at intervals from each other. Such 

 sections also show very much better than the transverse sections 

 the fact that the median stem of the uterus is continuous 

 throughout the proglottid : they furthermore enable me to state 

 that the number of paired diverticula of the median stem in a 



