50 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISOENOES. 



has no relationship with the wide- 

 spread and common tapeworm 

 pest, the taenia medioconellata 

 and solium, it is a parasitic disease 

 sui generis as far as the Texas 

 jackrabbit is coneeriied. The par- 

 asite, therefore, does not produce 

 any tapeworm in man, as some 

 persons are led to believe, and 

 good cooking and frying will de- 

 stroy the fins or cysts in the meat 

 of any rabbit; but, of coursp, it 

 is better that such infected rabbit 

 meat should not be used at all. 



In order to hear the opinion of 

 other professional gentlemen on 



Dr. Ferdinand Herpf. 



Late Veteran Physician and Surgeon of San 



Antonio, and Nestor of the Medical Fraternity 



of Western Texas. (From life size and life 



like painting.) 



the subject, I addressed some 

 years ago, a few lines to Dr. P. 

 Herff, (who by the way, has had 

 an immense amount of practical 

 experience in this line, also), and 

 the venerable old gentleman kind- 

 ly forwarded me the following re- 

 ply on the subject: "The taenia 

 echinococcus is a verv small tape- 

 worm with well-developed head 

 (scolex) and three or four, joints 

 (proglottides). It lives in the in- 

 testines of the dog, and is not so 

 very easy to find and the r.->unuish 

 appearance of the body, which at 

 first sight looks like a small nem- 



atoid worm. Only by examining 

 it in water, by which the intestinal 

 mucus is washed away, and with 

 a common loupe yoa can disclos.'? 

 its true organization. I stumbled 

 on it during the examination I 

 made on a dog which I had fed 

 with trichinotie sausage, while 

 hunting for intestinal trichinae. 

 Afterwards I found it many times 

 in the intestines of many dogs 

 which were killed by the police 

 during the rabies scare and fur- 

 nished by Dr. Petterson, then city 

 physician (in 1873). The embryon- 

 ic state in the rabbit has be°n 

 known to me long ago, as it is also 

 to many hunters who have shot 

 rabbits, and, in consequence, cre- 

 ated a disgust in people to eat 

 them. The embryo lives in the 

 peritoneum and between the mus- 

 cles in the connective tissues, and 

 is a true echinicoccus — that 

 is, a scolex — which multiplies in 

 its cystic surroundings by sprout- 

 ing or budding anl creating new 

 scolices. In that respect it differs 

 from cysticercus, which lives in a 

 solitary cyst, and to which family 

 the taenia solium, mediocanellatri, 

 etc., belong, while the botrioceph- 

 alus latus develops free in water 

 at first, but probably enters tben 

 a host (cistern, sink or waterpool) 

 and then is developed in the body 

 of man, as botriocephalus. These 

 of course, will not cause to 

 man, much less echinococcus 

 which is only produced by the in- 

 gestion of the eggs of the mature 

 animal, the taenia echinococcus 

 which came from the dog that had 

 eaten infected meat from rabbits, 

 or through wolves or foxes who 

 also harbor the mature' parasite. 

 Insofar the eating of infected rab- 

 bit meat is onlv disgusting, but 

 will not produce taenie. The dog 

 however, is the evil-doer, and so 

 the fondling and kissing of lap- 

 dogs or the sleeping in the fsame 

 room with dogs is to he 

 avoided. * * * 



* "I have found the echinococcus 



