tapeworm

[Eng. tape, and worm. ] 1. Zool.: An intestinal worm, Tania solium , in form somewhat resembling tape. Its length is from five to fifteen yards, and its breadth from two lines at the narrowest part to four or five at the other or broader extremity. At the narrow end is the head, which is terminated anteriorly by a central rostellum, surrounded by a crown of small recurved hooks, and behind them four suctorial depre ions; then follow an immense number of segments, each of being detached when maturements recap able full microscopic The the parasite. There is no mouth; but nutrition appears to take place through the ti ues of the ani mal, as alge derive nourishment from the sea-water in which they float. The digestive system consists of two tubes or lateral canals, extending from the anterior to the posterior end of the body, and a transverse canal at the summit of each joint. The tapeworm lives in the small intestines of man, affixing itself by its double circle of hooks. When the reproductive joints or proglottides become mature, they break off and are voided with the stools. They the wind, till some of them are at length swallowed may into water, or may be blown about with by the pig, and produce a parasite called Cysticercus cellulose , which causes measles in the pig. When the measly pork is eaten by man, a tapeworm, the ordinary Tænia solium , appears in his intestines. This species mainly affects the poor, oor, who are the chief pork-eaters. Called more fully the Pork Tape worm. The Beef Tapeworm, Tania mediocanel . segments are somewhat larger than in the ordinary lat a , has no coronet of hooks on the head. The tapeworm. It is fifteen to twenty-three feet long. The cysticercus of this species forms measles in the ox, and is swallowed by man in eating beef. It chiefly affects the rich. The Broad Tapeworm, Bothriocephalus lat us , is twenty-five feet long by nearly an inch broad, and chiefly affects the inhabitants of Switzerland, Ru ia, and Poland. 2. Pathol.: Sometimes a person infested by a tapeworm experiences no inconvenience, and never suspects the existence of the parasite till segments of it are pa ed. Or there may be continual craving for food, debility, pain in the stomach, irritability of the bladder, itching about the nose and anus, vertigo, noises in the ears, faintne , restle ne and emaciation. [HYDATIDS.] †tapeworm-shaped, a. taphozous