254 



ANIMAL PAEASITES AND MESSMATES. 



We also give a sketch (Pig. 76) of some very remark- 

 able parasites, whose affinities are still problematical, 

 and which only inhabit spongy bodies, such as the 



Fig. 76. —Dicyema Krohnii, from Sepia officinalis. 



kidneys of cephalopodg. The name of Dicyema has 

 been given to them. 



Prof. Bay Lankester has quite recently made some 

 very interesting observations, at Naples, on these pro- 

 blematical beings ; and my son has just devoted a part 

 of his vacation, with two of his pupils, to elucidate the 

 points of their organization and development, which are 

 still obscure. He went to reside at Villefranche, near 

 Nice, in order to obtain fresh cephalopods every day. 

 His observations have led him to a result quite different 

 from that which I expected. 



