ASCAEIS LUMBRICOIDES. 



305 



inwards fi^om the granular layer towards the loose parenchyma of the 

 body. This has been well demonstrated by Eberth in the closely- 

 allied, round worm of the horse (Fig. 67). When exposed longitudin- 

 ally the muscular cells are seen to overlap one another at their 

 extremities, forming a series of dovetail-like arrangements in the 

 mass. In the general cavity of the body we find a quantity of 

 loose parenchymatous cells, which, according to Eberth (in A. mega- 

 locephala), are connected with and bud out from the inner surface 

 of the great longitudinal bundles. In the living state these loose 

 cells, whatever be their nature, are surrounded by a transparent 



Fig. 67. — Transverse section representing the senii-diameter of the body of Anoaris mepaloeephala, 

 with the viscera removed. Considerably magnified. — Eberth. 



red-coloured fluid, which is, probably, of a highly-nutritive cha- 

 racter.* As regards the nervous system, all I can say from my 

 own examinations simply amount to this : I find the lateral lines 

 characterized by a band of large granular cells, in the centre of 

 which lies a well-marked double-bordered canal, containing fine 



* Dr. Marcet, F.E.S., to whom I have since forwarded as much of the fluid as I 

 could obtain from about seventy of these parasites, informs me that its " composition is 

 similar to that of the juice of flesh in the higher animals ;'" and he is, therefore, led to 

 infer that the process of assimilation is pretty much the same in both classes. — T. S. C. 



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