6o6 



CESTOIDEA 



Sparganum Diesing, 1850. 



A collective group of larval stages of Dibothriocephalidae which 

 have not reached a stage in their development at which they 

 can be determined generically: Sparganum mansoni, S. prolifer, 

 S. baxteri. 



Sparganum mansoni Cobbold, 1883. 



Synonyms.^ — Ligula mansoni Cobbold, i88^; Bothriocephalus ligu- 

 loides R. Leuckart, 1886; Dihothrium mansoni Ariola, 1900. 



This larva was found by Manson while making a post-mortem on 

 a Chinaman in Amoy, lying under the peritoneum near the kidneys 

 and over the iliac fossae; he also found one free in the pleural 

 cavity. Scheube discovered another specimen in the urethra of a 

 Japanese, and Sonsino a third in an Egyptian jackal. 



Morphology. — -Long, white, ribbon-shaped parasites, with feeble 

 movements. No head or definite structure visible. Length, 30 to 

 35 centimetres; breadth, 3 to 12 millimetres. At the broader end 

 there is a sort of papilla. There is no reproduction by fission. 



Sparganum prolifer Ijima, 1905. 

 SyVLOUyvHr-'Plefocercus prolifer Ijima, 1905. 



In 1905 Ijima found this worm in a woman living near Tokio, 

 and in 1907 Gates found the same or a similar worm in a man in 

 Manatee, U.S.A. 



Morphology. — The larva, which lies enclosed in a cyst, may attain 

 I to 12 millimetres in length by 2-5 millimetres in breadth. The 

 head at the narrow end is motile, and capable of evagination and 

 invagination. It shows an apical depression, which perhaps serves 

 as a sucker, but there are no true suckers 

 or other organs of attachment . 



Calcareous spherical corpuscles can be 

 found anywhere, except in the head. No 

 genitalia are to be seen, but there is a good 

 muscular and excretory system and food- 

 reserve bodies. It can multiply by trans- 

 t7t^ ^ e>,^,,^^ verse division, and supernumerary heads 

 prolifer Ijima. (After "^^-Y become mdependent, and may assume 

 Stiles.) bizarre and irregular shapes. The adult is 



unknown. 



Habitat. — ^It lives in the subcutaneous tissue and elsewhere in 

 man. 



Pathogenicity. — It produces nodules in the skin and fascia be- 

 tween the muscles and in the abdominal cavity. Associated with 

 these nodules there may be considerable swelling of the integument, 

 and, in fact, a condition not unlike elephantiasis may arise. Also 

 there may be acne-like spots all over the body causing itching, 

 which may lead to the escape of a worm from the spot. When a 

 nodule is cut open, a cyst is found containing one or two worms, 

 cither filled with a watery fluid, or with a jelly or slime-like sub- 



