CCENURUS. 121 



"with a pale yellow albuminous fluid, in which, neither crystals nor 

 free scolices were visible. 



In this connection it is only right that I should mention that so 

 early as the year 1833, Mr. Caleb Burrell Rose, formerly of Swaff- 

 ham, Norfolk, discovered an undoubted example of polycephalous 

 hydatid or Goenurus in the rabbit ; the parasite in question bearing 

 a very close resemblance to the example above described. As the 

 accuracy of Rose's determination respecting the characters of the 

 hydatid has been called in question, I particularly invite atten- 

 tion to the original description as recorded in the " London Medi- 

 cal Gazette" for November 9th, 1833. At page 206, vol. xiii. of 

 this periodical, after describing the common Goenurus cerebralis of 

 the sheep, Rose writes as follows : — " This {i. e., G. cerebralis) is 

 the only species of Goenurus noticed by authors, but I have met 

 with another. It infests the rabbit, and I have found it situated 

 between the muscles of the loins. It is also met with in the neck 

 and back. This hydatid grows rapidly, and multiplies prodigiously, 

 and being seated near the surface, it soon projects, and sometimes 

 forms a tumour of considerable magnitude. "When the warrener 

 meets with a rabbit thus affected, he punctures the tumour, 

 squeezes out the fluid, and sends the animal to market with its 

 brethren. I possess a specimen of this species in a pregnant state. 

 The earhest visible state of gestation is a minute spot, more 

 transparent than the surrounding coats of the parent ; this enlarges 

 till it projects from the parietes of the maternal vesicle. It con- 

 tinues to enlarge until it becomes a perfect hydatid, attached by a 

 slender peduncle only; even whilst small, other young are seen 

 sprouting from it, and so on in a series of three or four. My spe- 

 cimen exhibits them in every stage of growth, from a minute point 

 to a vesicle the size of a hen's egg. As I can see no difference in 

 structure between this hydatid and the last- mentioned {i. e., Goenu- 

 rus cerebralis), I am unwiUing to consider it a different species ; 

 for surely a varying locality ought not to constitute a specific 

 character." 



R 



