THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
141 
in what state an intestinal worm, Sphce- 
rularia Bombi, which is parasitic on 
humble-bees, passes the winter months, 
and for this purpose Mr. Lubbock is ex- 
tremely anxious to obtain specimens of 
any humble-bee during this and the 
next two months. 
In the new number of the ‘ Natural 
History Review’ is an article by Mr. 
Lubbock on this singular Entozoon, 
Sphcerularia Bombi , from which we make 
the following extracts : — 
“ This very curious creature was first 
discovered by Leon Dufour, aud de- 
scribed by him in the ‘ Ann ales des 
Sciences Naturelles’ for 1836. He at 
first supposed it was a dipterous larva, 
but soon saw that it belonged to the En- 
tozoa ; and as it certainly could not be 
referred to any other genus, he gave it 
the appropriate name of Sphcerularia. 
Yon Siebold is, I believe, the only other 
naturalist who has recorded any personal 
observations on the subject. 
“ M. Leon Dufour and Von Siebold 
met with Sphcerularia in the four species 
of humble-bees — namely, Bombus ter- 
restris, hortorum, sylvarum and muscorum. 
I have found it in the females of B. ter- 
restris, lucorum , pralorum, lapidarius, 
subterraneus , hortorum and muscorum, 
which increases to eight, the number of 
species in which Sphcerularia is known 
more or less frequently to reside. The 
proportion of specimens attacked is, how- 
ever, very different in the different spe- 
cies, and the parasite appears to be most 
common in B. terrestris, lapidarius and 
lucorum. Out of thirty- three specimens 
of B. terrestris examined by me in the 
months of May and June, no less than 
nineteen — that is to say, more than one 
half — contained these parasites. 
“ Neither Leon Dufour nor Siebold 
say anything about the sex of the in- 
fected specimens. All, however, that 
have come under my notice were large 
females, and I have never seen a single 
Sphcerularia in a worker or a male. 
“ The worms lie free in the cavity of 
the body, and are somewhat curled up. 
The largest number of full-grown females 
which I ever found in a single bee was 
eleven, but the usual numbers were from 
five to eight. The two infected speci- 
mens of B. pratorum, however, con- 
tained only one specimen of the parasite 
apiece. 
“ In turning to the internal anatomy, 
one can, with reference to some highly 
important organs, and systems of organs, 
only parody Van Troil’s celebrated chap- 
ter on the snakes in Iceland, and say 
simply that there are in Sphcerularia no 
muscles, no nervous or circulatory sys- 
tems, and no intestinal canal. 
“ A priori it would seem almost im- 
possible that an animal could exist without 
these organs. Muscles, however, would 
be useless, or even destructive. So long 
as the Sphcerularia remains quiet, the 
bee does not seem incommoded by its 
presence, which perhaps produces scarcely 
any abnormal sensations ; but if the para- 
site, being so large in proportion to its 
victim, were to move about, it would pro- 
bably so affect and disarrange the viscera 
of the bee that the poor insect would be 
quite unable to pursue its usual avoca- 
tions, and would quickly perish. The 
female Sphcerularia being thus, when full- 
grown, reduced to a merely vegetative 
existence, the nerves of motion and sen- 
sation must, of course, be useless, and 
would soon become atrophied. Under 
these circumstauces, however, it might 
have been expected that the digestive 
organs and their nerves would have been 
highly developed. That, on the contrary, 
these organs are also absent is probably 
to be explained by the fact that the 
animal is bathed on all sides by the 
blood of the bee, and thus lives in a 
medium which is highly organized, and 
requires probably scarcely any further 
elaboration. 
