256 DR. F. E. BEDDARD ON 



they may assist in forming the ventral groove or sh't. Of this I 

 have not positive evidence one way or the other. This condition 

 is, as I think, to be directly compared Avith the cases described by 

 Zschokke, whose statements as to their significance have been 

 denied, as I have already pointed out, by others. Details are 

 wanting as to whether Zschokke's types show evidence of the 

 pre-existence of uterine pores in younger stages. 



The question of the absence or presence of a separate uterine pore 

 in the Tetraphyllidea is not uniformly answered in the text-books. 

 Thus Sedgwick, in his ' Student's Text-book of Zoology,' * remarks 

 that " in the Bothriocephalidse and other forms (possibly in all 

 Cestodes except the Tfeniadse) the uterus has a special opening 

 of its own on to the exterior." On the other hand, Benham 

 divides the Dibothridiata (containing only the Bothriocephalidse 

 and forms with grooves instead of proper suckers) from the 

 Tetrabothridiata (the rest of the Merozoic Cestoidea) by the 

 occurrence of the uterine pore in the former and its absence in 

 the latter t. Probably the balance of opinion is in favour of .the 

 view held by Dr. Benham. LeuckartJ, however (at any rate in 

 the revised English edition of his work), was apparently of opinion 

 that uterine pores are found in the whole group of the Bothriada?, 

 by which group he understands " the species which remain after 

 the exclusion of the Tseniada?," though, as Prof. Braun has 

 pointed out in his account of the Tapeworms in Bronn's 

 ' Thierreichs,' Leuckart admitted that but few species had been 

 examined from this point of view. 



Prof. Zschokke, in his most extensive work upon the Cestoidea §, 

 has brought foi'ward cei^tain facts which he regards as pointing to. 

 a retention of the Bothriocephalid uterine pores among the higher 

 Tapeworms. This orifice in Calliohothrvum coronatuon || is described 

 as " un enfoncement en entonnoir de la cuticle, auquel correspond 

 un relovement interne de la parol de I'ute'rus." He observes, 

 further, that there is no sign of tearing, and a perfect continuity 

 in the walls of this tube. The orifice is figured % without 

 histological detail. On pi. v. fig. 81 of the same memoir is 

 represented the corresponding pore of another species, G. leuckarti, 

 also without histological detail, and of it a similar description is 

 given. In another species also a uterine aperture is said to be 

 formed when the contained ova are ripe. Of Onchobothrnim' 

 uncinattim, thesamefact is stated**. In the genus Anthoboihrmmff 

 a similar uterine pore is stated to exist in the ripe uterus ; but 



* Vol. i., London, 1898, p. 249. 



t A Treatise on Zoology, edit, bj' E. Raj- Lankester, pt. iv. London, 1901, pp. 116 

 &118. 



+ ' The Parasites of Man,' Edinburgh, 1886, trausl. by W. E. Hoyle, p. 317. 



§ Mem. Soc. Inst. Genev. xvii., 1889. 



II Loc. cit. p. 196. 

 ^ Loc. cit. pi. iv. fig. 71. 

 ** Loc. cit. p. -250. 

 tt Loc. cit. pp. 260, 272, 281. 



