Page:Tropical Diseases.djvu/849

XLII] According to Ijima, who describes it, this larva (Fig. 160) may attain 1-12 mm. in length by 2.5 mm. in breadth. The anterior is narrower and more motile than the posterior end, and may exhibit an apical depression which possibly serves as a sucker. The body, with the exception of the head, contains a number of roundish calcareous corpuscles, and in older specimens there are also reserve-food bodies irregularly distributed. These larvæ can multiply by transverse fission. They give rise to supernumerary heads, which become independent. There are no genital organs. In the single case reported, thousands of parasites were present. In a small piece of skin, 11 cm. 2, Ijima found as many as 60. The worms occupied small roundish or ovoid cysts (1 to 8 mm. long by 2 to 5 mm. in width) in the subcutaneous cellular tissue. The cysts could be enucleated quite easily, and contained one or more parasites. They had been present for over two years, causing an enlarged condition of the thigh and an acne-like appearance of the skin. The patient was 33 years old, and, eight years previously, had suffered from intestina tæniasis.