PROTOZOA INCERTÆ SEDIS.
Sergentella hominis, Brumpt, 1910.
Et. and Ed. Sergent in 1908 found vermiform bodies about 40 µ long by 1 µ to 1·5 µ broad in the blood of an Algerian suffering from nausea and cold sweats, without other symptoms. The bodies were pointed at each end, with a somewhat ill-defined nucleus in the middle. Their systematic position is doubtful.
Note.—An Appendix on Protozoology will be found on pp. [733]–752. This has been prepared in order to incorporate a number of new additions to knowledge made since the body of the book was printed off.
B. PLATYHELMINTHES, or Flat Worms.
BY
J. W. W. STEPHENS, M.D., B.C., D.P.H.
Definition: Bilaterally symmetrical animals without limbs, the form of which is leaf or tape-like, rarely cylindrical, and whose primary body cavity (segmentation cavity) is absent, the cavity being filled by a mesenchymatous tissue (parenchyma).
The mouth is either situated at the anterior end of the body, or is shifted more or less backwards on to the flat ventral surface. The alimentary canal consists of a short fore-gut, which is frequently provided with a muscular pharynx, and of a simple forked or branched mid-gut; there is neither a hind-gut nor an anus; in one class, the Cestodes, the alimentary canal has entirely disappeared except for muscular remnants in the scolex.
The INTEGUMENT OF THE BODY consists either of a ciliated epithelium of only one layer (Turbellaria), or of a cuticle and gland-like cells embedded in the parenchyma, or subcuticular layer (Cestodes, Trematodes). The dermo-muscular layer consists of annular, longitudinal, and even diagonal fibres, while the parenchyma is traversed by dorso-ventral fibres.