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The Range of Variation of Hymenolepis nana in Rats and Mice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Extract

Dr Woodland kindly submitted to me the majority of the worms recovered by him on dissecting the mice used in his very interesting experiment (see his paper that follows), with a request for my opinion as to the identity of the species. The material, which was handed to me preserved in formalin, consisted only in part of complete specimens, a number of the worms having been broken up during collection. I stained most of the whole specimens with dilute haematoxylin and mounted them in Canada balsam. Upon microscopic examination it became evident that the specimens were of various ages and degrees of maturity, and one specimen was of exceptionally large size. This individual, in a fairly contracted condition, measures (after mounting and without stretching) 36 mm. in length, and has about 650 recognisable segments. Mature segments (i.e. segments with testes and ovary both fully developed) begin to appear-at about the 320th segment from the scolex, and gravid segments at about the 490th. There are thus about 160 gravid segments. It will be evident from these details that this specimen agrees with my description of “Hymenolepis longior.” Two of the young forms among Dr Woodland's material also seemed to agree with “H. longior” rather than with what I had regarded as H. nana.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1924

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References

1 Parasitohgy, xvi. p. 424.Google Scholar

2 Parasitology, xiv. p. 2 (1922).Google Scholar

3 Dr Woodland has stated his conviction that ectoparasites are negligible as a source of infection, and he accordingly took no precautions against them. Although it has been shown by various experimenters that the development of H. nana and of “H. longior” can take place directly, without the aid of an intermediate host, it does not seem to follow that ectoparasites never act as intermediate hosts for the worms, and the possibility of accidental infection by this means should not be overlooked.

1 The measurements agree closely with those of the eggs of H. diminuta (Rud ).