BOTHRIOCEPHALUS LATUS. 



297 



proper ; but the absence of a common cloaca and the consequent 

 independence of the male and female orifices, forms a striking 

 external diflPerence. The upper or male orifice is mostly sur- 

 rounded by a marked oval swelling, which is due to the enlarge- 

 ment of the so-called cirrhus-pouch ; but, in place of a true penis, 

 an intromittent organ is formed out of the walls of the highly 

 extensile seminal duct, which is often conspicuously prolapsed. 

 According to Leuckart, the precise nature of the connection 

 between the vas deferens and the excretory ducts of the numerous 

 pale yellow-coloured, testicular sacs, is at present not fully made 

 out ; yet one may safely affirm that, for the most part, the same 

 arrangements obtain here as are known to occur in other cestodes. 

 Again, as regards the female organs, — whose outlet is placed 

 immediately beneath that of the male organs, — the uterus, as we 

 have seen, consists of a simple tube folded upon itself, so as to 

 form on either side of the central line four or five club-shaped 

 processes, which, in their entirety, present an irregularly petaloid 



Fia. 65.— Section of the strobile oi Bothriocephalus latus, showing the uterus, ovary, yelk-glands, 

 and separate reproductive orifiees. (Enlarged.) — Leuckart. 



appearance. The older helminthologists, consequently, compared 

 them to flowers or heraldic lilies ; whilst the term "uterine rosette," 

 which we now employ, is equally characteristic. The posterior end 

 of the uterus suddenly narrows to form a channel, described by 

 Eschricht under the title of " twisted coil" (Kniiuel). It usually 

 contains a number of yelk-granules and immature eggs, and, as 

 Eschricht pointed out, is probably concerned in the secretion of 

 the brown-coloured chitinous shell of the ova. Below this com- 



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