222 ASCARIS LUMBRICOIDES. 



Spec. Char. Head blunt; tail of. the male convoluted, 

 obtuse; of the female awl-shaped straight. 



Ascaris vermicularis; Syst. Nat. Gmel. p. 3029 ; Hoop. Mem. Med. Soc. v. p. 245 ; 

 Rudolp.Entoz. p. 44. Oxyure vermiculaire ; Lamar. An. sans Vert. t. 3,p.l04. 

 VAscariieSy Fr.; Der Aftericurm, Ger.; liarnmask, Swed. 



The Thread-Worm, commonly known as the ascaris, is a small 

 species, the female being four or five lines in length, and the 

 male only a line or a line and a half. The body is thread-like, very 

 elastic, and of a faint yellow colour. The posterior end is con- 

 voluted in a spiral form, and the organization is the same as in the 

 preceding species. They inhabit the intestines of children, even 

 of those newly born, especially the rectum ; they sometimes crawl 

 out upon the thighs, and enter the vagina, the bladder, and the 

 urinary passages. Goeze, Hooper, and others, maintain that the 

 oxyures are viviparous ; while Rudolphi and Bremser are of opi- 

 nion that they are oviparous. 



To expell the Thread-worm, colocynth, scammony, gamboge, 

 aloes, calomel, jalap, and indeed almost all the active and drastic 

 cathartics are occasionally employed. They are very readily 

 destroyed for a time by bitter and oily injections ; and their future 

 generation may be prevented by keeping up a regular action of the 

 bowels, by change of diet, by the use of powerful bitters, as rue, 

 tansy, and wormwood, together with whatever tends to strengthen 

 the general system. 



ASCARIS LUMBRICOIDES. 



The Long Round Worm. 

 Pl. XXIX. fig. 5. 



Order Nematoidea, Rudolphi. 



Gen. Char. Body round, elastic, and attenuated at 

 each end ; head with three valves ; penis bifur- 

 cated. 



