F. J. Meggitt 
393 
the submucosa, but, unlike D. echinobothrida, never penetrates it. It 
is nearly always in an extended condition, the short neck and first 
proglottides being considerably extended. The head is thrust between 
the villi until it touches the mucosa, into which it burrows to a greater 
or lesser degree: the epithelial covering of the villi touching the worm 
is entirely stripped off, so that in a transverse section the worm seems 
to be lying in a small tube. There is a slight thickening and coalescence 
of the villi near the point of attachment. In the majority of cases the 
rostellum is retracted, its hooks are withdrawn, and it seems to take 
no part in the fixation of the worm to the duodenal wall. Sometimes 
the hooks can be seen to be embedded in fragments of tissue, but these 
cases are not frequent. It is possible that this contracted condition is 
due to the action of the fixative, or to contraction of the worm upon the 
death of the fowl and the opening of the alimentary canal. In a few 
cases the apical cavity formed by the retraction of the rostellum was filled 
with mucus which attached the worm firmly to the wall of the duo¬ 
denum. The suckers appear to take the chief part in the attachment 
of the worm. The 4-6 concentric rings of hooks with which they are 
armed are embedded firmly in the villi nearest them, so firmly that 
they are usually torn from the suckers during sectionising. This 
species is usually present in many hundreds in the duodenum and the 
damage done to the wall must consequently be very great. The endo- 
clermal cells would be stripped off a large part of its surface and absorption 
of food proportionally hindered, if not absolutely prevented. There is 
also a certain amount of bleeding from the torn surface, resulting in 
the formation of strings of mucus and blood-clots: these would not 
usually be sufficiently large or numerous to attract attention, but in 
very bad cases would cause the faeces to have the bloody appearance 
mentioned by Zfirn (13). Such cases I have not yet observed. 
Musculature. The musculature consists of longitudinal and trans¬ 
verse muscles lying just under the sub-cuticular layer. The longi¬ 
tudinal muscles are comparatively strong, considering the size of the 
Cestode, and run from end to end of the proglottis in single strands. 
In the anterior portion of the strobila these strands are continuous 
from segment to segment and extend into the scolex: they ultimately 
end on the inner surface of the rostellum and suckers. Posteriorly 
they are interrupted between the proglottides. The transverse muscles 
consist of much smaller strands, connecting the various strands of the 
longitudinal muscles. They are best developed in the scolex between 
the suckers. At both extremities of each proglottis is a more or less 
