THE HELMINTHES. $ 116. 
§ 116. 
In the Acanthocephali, the genital organs vecupy a large portion of the 
cavity of the body. They arise in the posterior portion, and are supported 
by a Ligamentum suspensorium, which extends from this last to the base 
of the proboscideal sheath, ; 
In the females, there are neither proper ovaries, nor an uterus; but in 
their place there are numerous oval, or round, flattened bodies of consider- 
able size, which float freely in the liquid of the cavity of the body; they 
have nicely-defined borders, and are composed of a vesicular, granular 
substance, and, as eggs are formed within them, they may be regarded as 
so many loose ovaries.” 
When the eggs have reached a certain size, they fall from the ovaries 
into the cavity of the body. At this time they are ovo-elongate, have 
only a single envelope, and contain both a vesicular and a fively-granular 
substance, but no trace of a germinative vesicle. They continue to in- 
crease in size, and two new envelopes are formed about them. The 
muscular canal’ which passes off from the simple vulva which is situated at 
the posterior part of the body, may be regarded as a uterus. 
At the point where it is attached to the Ligamentum suspensorium, it 
becomes a campanulate or infundibuliform organ, whose borders float freely 
in the cavity of the body, and thus the whole is comparable to a Tuba Fal- 
lopit. The bottom of this bell-shaped organ communicates with the 
superior extremity of the uterus by a narrow, valvular opening, which 
presents a lateral, semilunar fissure. 
This whole organ is endowed with very active peristaltic motions, by 
which the loose contents of the cavity of the body are absorbed; and while 
the larger ovaries are thrown out, the little immature eggs are returned into 
the cavity of the body by the lateral fissure, — the more mature ones only, 
reaching the uterus.” This uterus, which is of variable length, opens 
outwardly through a very short and narrow vagina. 
The males of Echinorhynchus have usually two oval or elongated testi- 
eles, one before the other, and attached to the Ligamentum suspensorwum. 
of Taenia cucumerina’ (Creplin, Observ. de 
Entozois fig. 12, 13) and crateriformis, have the 
remarkable arrangement of being grouped in tens 
to twenties, and each group is surrounded by a 
gelatinous envelope.* 
1 The ovaries of Echinorynchus were formerly 
taken both for mature eggs, and for cotyledons ; 
and to this is due the very inaccurate figures of 
them by Westrumb and Cloquet (loc. cit.). Du- 
jardin, however (Hist. d. Helm. Pl. VII. fig. D. 
6), perceived their true nature. 
A state of development which I have observed 
with many females of Echinorhynchus gibbosus, 
would appear to throw some light upon the ques- 
tion as to the part of the body where the ovaries 
are first formed. Herethe Ligamentum suspen- 
sorium had, over most of its extent, large granu- 
lar globules, while the cavity of the body contained 
neither ovaries nor eggs. I think, therefore, that 
this ligament is the elementary material from which 
the ovaries are developed under the form of glob- 
ules, which, being subsequently detached, continue 
their development in the liquid of the cavity of the 
body. 
* [§ 115, note 27.] See Van Beneden (loc. cit. 
yp. 67), who has observed the eggs of the Cestodes 
2 The long eggs of many Exhinorhynchi are 
formed by the same process. They are all colorless, 
and may be distinguished by the peculiar aspect 
of their middle envelope which at both extremities 
is constricted like a neck. But those of Echino- 
rhynchus gigas form an exception ; for they are 
shorter and oval, their middle envelope is yellowish, 
and, like the two otliers, has externally numberless 
small obtuse spines. With Echinorhynchus stru- 
mosus, hystrix, angustatus, and proteus, the 
external envelope of the eggs presents the peculiar 
phenomenon that when pressed between two plates 
of glass, it separates into very fine fibrillae. 
3 The nature of this campanulate Tuba Fallopii 
has been wholly mistaken by Bojanus, Westrumb 
and Cloquet. Burow (Kchinorhynchi strumosi 
Anat. p. 22, fig. 1. g, fig. 6) was the first to 
describe it, without, however conveying the correct 
idea. See my description (Burdach’s Physiol. 
loc. cit. p. 197), which has been confirmed since 
by gee (Hist. d. Helm. p. 495, Pl. VII. fig. 
composed like those other animals,— with a germin- 
ative vesicle, &.—Ep. |; 
