Towards the end of 1923 the results of some feeding experiments of mice with gravid segments of Hymenolepis fraterna Stiles and Hymenolepis longior Baylis were described (Jl. Helminthology, Vol. 1, pp. 195–196). Intravillous cysticercoids were seen in animals killed on the fourth day after feeding and ova were passed by infected mice after an interval of 19 days.

The suggestion having been put forward that this did not prove direct development and that the results could be explained by the mice shedding their villi containing cysticercoids, contaminating their food and re-ingesting them, further experiments were undertaken in order to note the progress of development from day to day, and also to find out whether ingested cysticercoids survive and produce adult cestodes.