36 
1880: Txnia saginata var. abietina (Weinland, 1858) Leuckart, 1880, 605-606 
fig. 272. — Stiles, 1906, Jnue, 31-32, figs. 35-38. 
1885: Txnia abietina (Weinland, 1858) Guzzardi Osmundo, 1885a, 580. 
Historical review: WeinlancVs (1858, 43-45, 84) original account 
of this species is as follotvs : 
[p. 43] § 63. Under this name \_Txnia solium var. abietina'] I will introduce 
a specimen of tapeworm which comes from a Chippewa Indian, at the Sault Ste. 
Marie, Lake Superior ; it was obtained there by Professor Agassiz during his 
famous trip to that lake. The specimen consists of a chain [p. 44] of several 
feet in length, from the mature part of the worm. The head, neck, and the 
whole anterior half are wanting. 
The most striking thing in this worm is its extreme narrowness and meager- 
ness, while Txnia mediocanellata, which it resembles in the configuration of the 
uterus, is very broad and thick, according to Kuechenmeister. A figure of this 
worm, of its uterus and eggs, we intend to publish in our work on the parasites 
of man. 
All the joints which are preserved are very thin, nearly transparent, and 
equally narrow, their transverse diameter being about 4 mm., and the longi- 
tudinal about 12 mm. The genital openings are very small, and withdlit ex- 
ternal lips ; this may be owing to the very mature age of the joints in question. 
There is no pigment in either vagina or spermatic duct. The uterus is more 
regular than either in Txnia solium or in Txnia mediocanellata, yet it more 
resembles the latter. The middle trunk of the uterus is quite straight; the 
branches, about 30 in number, start from the main stem, either at right angles 
or at an angle of about 45°. These branches are always quite parallel, and are 
generally straight ; but whenever they are bent, all make the same angle ; they 
are never arborescently divided, nor furcated at the en^s, with the exception of 
the foremost and the hindmost in each joint, which run, the former forwards, i 
the latter backwards, both being forked and crooked. The eggs, which are ex- 
tremely plentj’ in these joints, and which show the whole configuration of the i 
uterus in a yellowish tint to the naked eye, are 0.033 mm. long, and 0.030 mm. 
broad; they are protected, first, by an outside shell (chorion) which is 0.003 
nun. thick, dark in its outer layers, transparent, yellowish inwards; then fol- 
lows a second shell (yolk membrane), 0.0006 mm. thick, entirely transparent. 
In the cavity of the egg lies the embryo, occupying about two-thirds of it, and 
measuring only 0.016 mm. We saw other eggs, unripe, and with one eggshell 
only, but very rarely. 
We consider this worm merely as a variety of Txnia solium, and we called 
it varietas abietina, from abies, a pine tree, which the configuration of its 
uterus resembles. 
We hope soon to get more information concerning this Indian tapeworm from 
our western and Canadian medical friends.^ 
[p. 84] 2b. Txnia solium, L. Varietas abietina Weinland. 
Obtained by Prof. L. Agassiz from a North American (Chippewa) Indian, at , 
I^ake Superior. The specimen is preserved in the Zoological Museum. Cam- 
bridge, Mass. 
Later, Weinland (18G1, 4-5, 12-14, pi. 5, figs. 18-20) reverts to this 
subject; his account of the parasite is practically a translation of the 
paragraph quoted above, but he adds that the worm was collected in i 
1850; the eggs measure 33 by 30 to 33 /x; the chorion is dark brown 
externall}^ lighter internally. Weinland was unable to recognize 
any further details. 
