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XLI.  Description  of  a  new  species  of  Tape-worm,  Taenia  lamelligera,  Owen.  By  Richard 
Owen,  Esq.,  F.R.S.  Z.S.,  Assistant  Conservator  of  the  Museum  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Surgeons  in  London. 
Communicated  June  9,  1835. 
This  species  has  hitherto  been  found  only  in  the  small  intestines  of  the  Flamingo, 
Phoenicopterus  ruber,  Linn.,  and  is  of  a  larger  size  than  the  Tani(S  of  Birds  usually  are, 
being  7  inches  in  length,  5  lines  in  width,  and  1  line  in  thickness.  Two  specimens 
were  found  by  Lieut. -Colonel  Sykes,  F.R.S. ,  in  a  Flamingo  dissected  by  him,  situated 
in  the  duodenum,  so  as  almost  completely  to  block  up  that  intestine.  The  following 
description  is  taken  from  these  specimens.  The  segments  are  extremely  short  and  nu- 
merous ;  they  gradually  increase  in  breadth  and  thickness  for  about  3  inches  from  the 
head  ;  as  they  approach  the  opposite  end  of  the  body  they  slightly  diminish  in  breadth, 
and  while  they  increase  a  little  in  length,  retain  the  same  thickness. 
Along  the  middle  of  both  the  plane  surfaces  of  the  body  the  segments  are  separated 
by  shallow  indentations  only,  but  at  the  sides  the  posterior  margins  of  the  segments 
project  abruptly  from  the  surface,  and  form  a  series  of  semicircular  ridges,  commencing 
about  a  line's  distance  from  the  margin  on  one  side,  and  extending  round  to  the  same 
distance  on  the  opposite  side. 
On  both  margins  of  each  segment,  immediately  anterior  to  these  ridges,  there  is  a 
small  pyramidal  eminence,  perforated  at  the  apex,  through  which  perforation  a  small 
cylindrical  process  or  cirrus  can  be  protruded. 
A  longitudinal  line  is  slightly  impressed  along  the  middle  of  both  surfaces  of  the 
body  ;  it  is  most  distinct  on  the  anterior  half.  A  few  segments  at  the  posterior  ex- 
tremity of  the  body  were  partially  separated  from  the  rest,  and  seemed  about  to  be 
detached.  In  these  alone  were  ova  perceptible,  which  were  aggregated  near  the  base 
of  the  cirrus,  but  not  confined  in  an  ovary  of  any  definite  form :  the  sides  of  the  canal 
which  they  were  about  to  traverse  were  evidently  glandular,  and  the  ova  are  probably 
fecundated  as  they  pass  through.    The  cirrus  would  seem  to  be  an  exciting  organ. 
The  segments  at  the  anterior  part  of  the  body  are  so  short  that  they  resemble  mere 
transverse  rug(E ;  at  the  posterior  end  of  the  body  they  did  not  exceed  half  a  line  in 
length. 
The  dilated  margins  of  the  segments  and  the  projecting  cirri  occasion  in  this  Teenia 
a  superficial  resemblance  to  the  Nereis  lamelligera  of  Pallas,  and  peculiarly  distinguish 
it  from  any  species  hitherto  described.    It  may  be  characterized  as  follows. 
