95 
inal cavity of these various insects amid the adipose tissue, sometimes 
in very considerable numbers. 
The larva of Asopict farlnalis is very common in dwelling houses all 
over Europe, where it feeds upon organic materials, refuse, flour, 
meal, etc. In the moth stage it is frequent in April and October. 
This moth is also common in America, and, in fact, is almost cos- 
mopolitan in its distribution. 
On account of its wide geographical range corresponding with the 
distribution of II. dirnimtta^ Grassi considers that Asopia is probably 
the normal intermediate host of the tapeworm in question. It is said by 
Grassi that rats prey actively 
not only upon the larval, but 
also upon the adult moths. 
Acis spinosa lives in the south 
of Europe, Scaurus striatus in 
the south of Erance, in Itah", 
Spain, and Greece; both belong 
to the same family of beetles 
(Tenebrionidee), related to that 
in which Tenehrio belongs, the 
latter, the supposed intermedi- 
ate host of Taenia microstoma. 
Twenty or more cysticercoids 
from Anisohihis were admin- 
istered to white rats, wdiich 
were entirely free from tape- 
worms; after 3 days the head 
of II. diminuta with a very 
short neck was observed in the 
intestine; after a week the neck 
had become longer, i cm. , with 
no trace of segments; in 15 days the worm had become quite long 
but without yet having reached maturit 3 ^ The experiments were 
repeated for all the other intermediate hosts; the results were con- 
stantly positive, and the adult worms obtained corresponded perfect^ 
to II. diminuta. 
Two experiments were tried on man, one upon Sig. Calandruccio, 
which resulted negativeh^ and one upon a second individual (adult 
male); in the second case, 15 da^^s after the ingestion of the cysticer- 
coids (from Acis spinosa)^ the ova of II. diminuta appeared in the feces, 
and after treatment with male fern, numerous specimens of the tape- 
worm were passed. 
The cysticercoid was observed only in the mature stage, free or 
provided with an adventitious connective tissue capsule, evidently 
derived from the host. Its size is measured b}" a few tenths of a milli- 
Fig. 102.— Encysted cercocystis of H. diminuta: caud., 
caudal appendage; cyst, adventitious capsule inclos- 
ing the cercocystis. Enlarged. (After Grassi & 
Rovelli, 1892a, pi. 4, fig. 1.) 
