138 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



acters have been made out. The body is rather robust, es- 

 pecially in the female, and tapers to both ends ; the color is 

 yellowish white, and the integument is seen to be finely 

 striated transversely, when considerably magnified. The 

 head is smaller than the body, truncated at Figure 83 a. 

 the end ; the mouth is terminal, roundish, or 

 somewhat angular, surrounded by the thick- 

 ened rim of the chitinous capsule, or pharynx. 

 This chitinous ring rises at intervals into four 

 to six denticles, or very small teeth, which 

 correspond to thickened longitudinal, chitin- 

 ous bands, that strengthen the pharynx, and 

 give a slightly angular form to the mouth. 

 The pharynx itself is small, short, and rather 

 squarish, when seen in profile, and has three 

 or four small, conical teeth at the bottom. 

 The oesophagus' is thick, club-shaped, and very muscular. 



The male is 1.12 of an inch long, and about .05 of 

 an inch in diameter ; the tail ends in a small blunt lobe, 

 united with two small, entire, membranous expansions, 

 one on each side, forming a small bursa, "which is 

 strengthened by several short rays, the exact number of 

 which could not be determined in my specimens ; there 

 are tw^o long, slender spicules. The females are 1.25 

 to two inches in length, and, as flattened between glass, 

 they are .10 to .13 of an inch in breadth. The posterior 

 end suddenly and obliquely narrows to a small conical 

 point, -which is turned to one side. The anal opening is close 

 to the end, and the genital orifice appears to be adjacent tO' 

 it. The oviducts are long, voluminous, much convoluted, 

 and unite in a large and capacious uterus, which fills most 

 of the cavity of the body near the posterior end. The uterus 

 and oviducts are both filled, in the larger specimens, with im- 

 mense numbers of small oval eggs. 



It is probable that this parasite is by no means uncommon. 

 JPentastoma tcenioides Rudolphi. Figure 84. 



This parasite is not a true worm, but is now generally re- 



Pigxire 83 a. — Sclerostoma pinguicola ; a, male, natural size ; b, posterior end, en- 

 larged; c, female, natural si :e; </, head, enlarged. Original. 



