Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 November 2009
A functional buccal stylet is described in adult male and female Trichinella spiralis, and the mode of feeding of the adults is described from living specimens examined immediately on removal from the intestine. The stylet is rapidly protruded and retracted, probably for lacerating host tissue and releasing tissue fluids, and active peristaltic sucking movements of the pseudo-bulb of the oesophagus take place about once a second. The rectum shows peristaltic defaecatory movements once every two or three seconds. Intra-vitam staining with 0·01% neutral red shows an acid reaction of the stichocytes of the stichosome, which are of a granular or non-granular nature, with small tubules and alveoli in the cytoplasm.